My Cumulative Hall of Fame: https://imgur.com/a/aamydqy
I played one version of every single main series generation from gen 3 to gen 9. Once a pokemon was present after defeating the champion or the final boss, they were added to a banlist and not to be used again. For example I used Gyarados in my first run, and didn't have him available for the other 12 games. I did this to prevent just using the same mons over and over again within reason. It worked for the most part, but I still ended up reusing some mons more than I like. For example, Geodude ended up on a lot of teams, but never made to an elite four team.
I didn't play them in strict chronological order, instead starting with BDSP, then moving onto Emerald, FireRed, Platinum, White, X, Alpha Sapphire, Ultra Sun, HeartGold, Black 2, Sword and Scarlet.
Some takeaways:

• I have a much deeper appreciation for the value of a lot of mons, shoutouts to Probopass, Sandaconda, Breloom, Medicham, and Klefki. That alone, made this a cool experience.
  
• I think there's a good reason as to why Emerald and Platinum are most folks' favorites, they were the most fun for me too. Brilliant Diamond gets honorable mention too
  
• Brilliant Diamond was fun since it was my first ever nuzlocke and I beat it on the first try, but that game is fucking hard. I have rewatched PC's HC run with no status moves a bunch of times and I might try that sometime in the future to build up my skill.
  
• Ultra Sun was fun but incredibly stressful. Hardest game of them all for me, period, no debate needed. It was fun, but I'm never doing that again, fuck that game. I wrote a reddit post about this recently if you want to know more about why I feel this way. There's a reason it is almost impossible to find the major streamers running this game with any level of recency.
  
• The Switch games, aside from Brilliant Diamond, just flat out suck to nuzlocke. Not being able to shut of the exp share and complicated ways of randomizing encounters are only the start of the issue. The larger issue being that these titles are unoptimized which makes lagging/crashes just another thing to play around. Scarlet was the worse of the two in this regard. Whenever there was rain or just a heavy set to load, I was down to like 10fps. I have a decently old switch, not sure if that was a factor, but it was so frustrating. Two crashes before the 2nd gym and I had enough. I emulated it and it was even worse, but rare candies and speed up was worth the trade off.
  
• Back to actual gameplay: For sword encounters I ended up looking up the encounter rates on Serebii and using a 1-100 number generator to pick my encounter whenever I used the overworld. I tried to use random in the grass as much as possible unless there was nothing of interest there. This was satisfying enough, and felt like it struck a good balance between random and strategizing.
  
• For Scarlet however, I never found a solid solution. First, I tried the tools online. I got Houndour for my first encounter in the first province you gain access to, and ran around for an hour, but couldn't find it. I accidentally ran into a much higher level Litleo during my search, and it ended my first run. I ultimately ended up using tera raid dens to randomize my encounters which made me feel so disconnected from the world. I was essentially sprinting past the hard-to-load zones with tons of lag to get to my next raid den or boss fight, then repeating the process. Additionally the encounter quality went from frustratingly bad to boring once I caught some good mons. It was the same reason a lot of folks find randomized runs unengaging. The game is hard until you catch something overpowered, and then the rest of the game is a breeze.
  
• My biggest takeaway of this experience is that I am very concerned for the future of nuzlocking new titles if they continue in the direction we are headed in. I am not sure what a solution looks like, but I am hoping the folks at gamefreak understand that some of their most loyal fans really enjoy playing the game this way, and add some features to make it easier to play the game the way we want to. I know they view us as cheaters or something right now, but I feel like that's mostly just a misunderstanding that can be overcome with the proper advocacy. They added a challenge mode to B2W2, maybe one day they can take that a step farther and offer some extra settings specific to nuzlocking. They probably won't, but a man can dream
  

Runescape Chronicles new video introduction to the new skills was very well delivered. Shamanism looks fantastic it's definitely a breathe of fresh air and Sailing belongs to the old school category, it's difficult to believe that's it's allready not a skill given its connection to the game itself.
I play OSRS almost everyday and it feels like it's in its golden years. We've received amazing content such as a new raid, bosses, wildy update, forestry and DT2, new prayer book and bosses coming out very soon. OSRS has grown in popularity, the community is strong and the base player numbers are high. Comparing 5 years ago to today it's alot more talked about and Ive managed to get two friends to start playing who weren't as interested back then. The game is booming, the possibilities are endless and we are all excited!
I envision that a world event message would display in the game chat, alarming all players of a new event that has taken place at said location. All players would be rushing to the ge to gear up and head to the new quest location and begin the quest. The quest tells a legend of a far away land only accessible by boat and through completion of the quest you unlock Sailing and a port to start building the boat. When the boat is ready the quest continues into the sea and we learn how to navigate the waters and begin to explore the many islands and land on the new map.
On the journey we become ship wrecked on a major island and a new quest begins. New scenery, new monsters, new NPCs, new everything we begin to explore and try to find a way off the island. We learn early on that the island was once inhabited by a human race lost to time, the land was once protected by the spirit of nature but something happened and the inhabitants became obsessed with the power of nature and it consumed them. Another major event happening leads the player on a journey to uncover the truth and finds themselves in a battle leading to the introduction of the Shaman skill. Buffs, de-duffs, upgrades and a new style of play.
Exploring the new map while sailing to the new islands, the game would be such a fresh feel and adventure. Introduce a new location for a new ge and get us bank standing there. The perfect balance of adding a skill that feels old school and a new skill that introduces us to a new way of play.
I'm very excited for whatever they planned for us and you should be too!
Thanks for reading

​
Cliff Smith grunts as he wraps his hands around the barbell, bends his knees, and lowers his six-foot-three frame toward the floor. He tenses his entire body, exhales twice, and starts pulling 455 pounds upward. His legs shake as he stands fully upright, and then he lowers the weight, breathes deeply, and does it all over again. He does five total reps, then drops the bar and smiles. "Ain't even winded," he says. "Holla at me. "
The five reps are a personal best for Smith (better known as Method Man), who loves starting his day by chasing PRs.
On this morning, he's in a Staten Island gym pondering his next milestone birthday (he turns 50 in March) and crushing sets of deadlifts, pullups, and barbell rows. "I gotta get my roses now," he says,"because I'm almost 50 fucking years old. Damn near 50 years old, bruh. "The Grammy Award-winning rap veteran has focused creativity into a host of projects lately. He appears in Starz's drama Power Book II: Ghost (returning for the second half of its first season in December); he voiced the character Ben Urich in Marvels, a narrative-fiction podcast; and he's working on new music.
His morning workout has readied him for all that-and it's kept him from predawn video-game marathons. In 2018, Smith says, he was battling insomnia, frequently waking at 2:00 and playing NBA2K. Realizing he was "just wasting time," Smith searched for a more productive use of his early-morning hours. "So at 4:00 , I find myself in the gym working out," he says. "Two days turned into three days. Three days turned into five days, and I've been consistent ever since. " Bonus: His insomnia is gone.
Smith now weighs 219, 12 pounds less than he weighed when he first started training. He hits legs Mondays, shoulders Tuesdays, back Wednesdays, chest Thursdays, and arms Fridays. "He's a beast," says his workout partner, Joey Crespo. "Our routine has only been heavy, heavy, all year round. "
At the moment, that means gritting out three sets of seated lat pulldowns, followed by a core exercise that has him on his knees, rolling a wheel forward, challenging his abs. He finishes the session by sitting on a bench with a harness connected to his forehead, a weight hanging in front of his chest. He lowers his head to look at the ground, then flexes his neck muscles to raise his head and look straight ahead, an old-school neck exercise that few gym-goers will do. Smith does it regularly. "Regardless of how tired I get, no matter what the workout is, I at least will try it," he says between deep breaths. "I'm not going to say no to anything. "
You may not have Method Man's fancy neck-training gear or his deadlift weight. But if you have a resistance band, you can try his favorite at-home regimen.
Pushups
Do 25 to 30 reps. Aim for 5 sets.
Banded Curl
Stand on a resistance band, its ends held at your sides, your core tight. Curl up, squeezing your biceps; then lower. That's 1 rep; do 15 to Do 5 sets.
Banded Shoulder Press
Stand on a resistance band, its ends held at your shoulders, your core tight. Tighten your shoulder blades and press the band overhead. Pause, then return to the start. That's 1 rep; do 15 to Do 5 sets.
A version of this story originally appears in the November 2020 issue of Men's Health, with the title "The 6 Workout w/ Method Man".

I will start by saying that I despise D3 & haven't play a Blizzard game since SC2, my history with Blizzard games goes like this Diablo->StarCraft->Diablo2->StarCraft2-> THE END
For many-many years D3 was my most anticipated game, when the game was close to release I could spot from a mile way that this was not the game I had in mind & will definitely not be something I would like to play & that was the case in the end, D3 was by far the biggest disappointment I had in my life as a gamer till now, needless to say I skipped it & act like it never happen.
Forward to D4 Open Beta, I would be honest here although the game looked nice I was almost certain that I wont like it for various reasons, so you could say I was somewhat biased before even start playing, well let me tell you although I could find many things I thought needs improvement the devs at Blizzard who crafted this game manage to give me a hard slap in the face & make me admit how wrong I was, yep I never expected to say this but I was wrong because D4 have been crafted exceptionally & the potential for what is going to become in the future is literally limitless.
During the beta I lived and breathed D4, I played for about 44 hours (check this to get an idea https://i.ibb.co/cFCRKM9/Screenshot082.jpg) apart from sleeping and eating I did nothing but play the game trying to see as much as possible, if the game wasn't fun, if I wasn't having fun playing there is no way I would have spent that many hours playing a game in such a short time, & that is the biggest proof that D4 is fun, so the developers imo can be proud because they created a fun game & I'm sure the majority out there agree with that sentiment.
Anyway let's move on with my review, I'm going to split this review in 3 sections, THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THE GAME, THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE AS MUCH OR AT ALL & IMO NEED IMPROVEMENT, THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THE FUTURE THAT WOULD MAKE THE GAME MORE FUN TO PLAY.
So without further ado:
THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THE GAME

1. The Game Looks Gorgeous, the visuals & the art direction is on point, exactly how a Diablo game should look like, with that I mean gritty & gory also realistic & serious, so huge props to those responsible for this aspect of the game, they really did an amazing job.
2. The Atmosphere, everything is dark & grim, there is people in distress everywhere, people in need of help, you go out of town & you find either people frozen because there were caught on a blizzard, massacred bodies that were eaten by wild beasts, so many other such examples but the atmosphere feels nice, also I liked especially the icy theme & the heavy blizzard out of towns in the first region of the game.
3. The Sound Design, there is nothing more to say here other than to give my highest praise to the sound design team because they truly did an amazing job & there is nothing to complain about.
4. The Combat, the combat feels really nice (as long you change the combined move+interact+basic attack all-in-one button from the options, else it feels clunky) I had a great time slaying thousands & thousands of mobs while grinding dungeons or taking part on events out in the world map, it felt smooth & neither fast or slow, just perfect somewhere in the middle, it felt really good can't find anything to complain about.
5. The Campaign & the Cutscenes, let's put those two together as they are essentially part of the same thing, the main story, at least what we had the chance to experience on the first zone, looks really nice & I enjoyed it while playing, there is ofc some parts of it that I liked more than others, but it was enjoyable for the most part & I definitely looking forward to see more of it, also the cutscenes in some cases were made in exceptionally way that definitely elevate the presentation to the viewers.
6. The Side Quests, now who would guess that I'm gonna like the side quests of all things on an MMO, I play MMORPGs for the past 20 years more or less & the side quests was never something I enjoyed doing because they are always terrible made & feel like a chore, well I think that more than half of the side quests I did in D4 was fun & interesting because they were carefully crafted & they were really well made, they didn't feel like side quests to be honest but more like a part of the main story.
7. The Transmog/Wardrobe system, I loved this, it's straight 10/10 & I would like to see any game company include this kind of system on their game in the future, it's perfect I love everything about it because it offers so much customization & freedom to alter how your character looks & stuff like that is always welcome.
8. The Cinematics, well those are always top-notch on any Blizzard game but I had to say it anyway, especially the intro, the first trailer we saw deserve to get some awards, definitely.
9. Monster Level Scaling, before I tried the beta I was against this but then I played the game & I was constantly thinking every time I was roaming some before low level area "if not for monster level scaling this area would have low level mobs that would pose no threat to me & I couldn't get any valuable drops out of them whatsoever..." in short it would happen what usually happen on any mmorpg, all low level areas become useless after a point when your level is high enough & there is no point to revisit all those low level areas anymore, also there is one more reason I liked monster level scaling & I thought this kind of feature suit a game like Diablo perfectly, because it would be anticlimactic to exiting a town & every mob you are facing is low level scrap, if that happen it would definitely ruin the atmosphere that this world is bloody dangerous & there is things out there that wanna murder you & eat you alive, & it's very important to feel that way at all times else the game won't feel as fun anymore, at least not for me.
10. Cursed Treasure Chest & Cursed Shrine events, I really like those they have a nice surprise element, instead of getting loot or buffs you get a swarm of mobs in your face, fun mechanic.
11. Legendary Aspect System, the fact that every legendary item found in the game has a kind of super mod, which can be extracted and transferred to any item we desire in order to help perfect the kind of character we are trying to build, is something really awesome & I liked that idea very much, especially when you consider that those Aspect mods have also quality levels like any other mod in the game, that means that you are not only searching for an Aspect you need & once you found it that's it, you want it to have good rolls also & that add to the RNG level & that means that there is something more for us to looking forward to when we are out there hunting for loot.
12. Sorceress Ice Spells, I played a Blizzard Sorceress during the beta (here a link to some gameplay if anyone wanna check how my character plays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZV7S6uUB5M) & I really liked how ice spells look, especially Frost Nova & Blizzard, & I also liked very much how Frozen enemies look, the devs did a really good job with the ice element.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE AS MUCH OR AT ALL & IMO NEED IMPROVEMENT

1. The Bosses, there is a few good ones but for the most part the bosses have many flaws from their mechanics, the level of challenge they offer, even their looks for many of them, they are not good enough also there is many similar looking ones on some dungeons that look like they devs copy/paste them everywhere, & also one great flaw over all regardind the bosses is that they are not memorable, there is many memorrable bosses on past Diablo games but I didn't felt that for the bosses I fought on D4, they seem generic & lack identity, the devs definitely need to do more on that front, we would like to have some scary, challenging & memorrable bosses for D4 please.
2. Skills Customization, this is more or less something most people who played the game agree I think, there is not enough stuff on the skill tree to build really unique characters & have in mind I'm not saying in any way that I would like to see PoE level of depth but there is a middle ground to be found & I think the devs can do much more to offer to players another layer of depth to customize their build, for example why there is no way to alter our skills & what they do although so many people asked for something like that repeatedly in the feedback we gave? why there is no way for example to change Ice Shard from a single row projectile spell to multiple projectiles or to increase the AOE range of my Blizzard or Frost Nova? we need more options Blizzard, we want every skill to have a number of different options for us to choose from in order to be able to create our own truly unique build.
3. Number of Active Skill Slots, it's way too limited atm, I couldn't get any ultimate skill because I couldn't remove any of my current skills from my skill bar because my build would be ruined if I did that, I suggest for two more skill slots if not two definetely one more else it would be impossible for most people to use an ultimate skill, who would choose to put a skill with a CD of 1 minute instead of something else that we would be able to use every few seconds or as often we want as long we have available resources to use? six are not enough Blizzard & most people agree with that, give us more options & don't limit the game to that extent, this could ruin the game for a lot of people you know.
4. Randomness of the Dungeons Layout, I did so many dungeons during the beta & I left kind of disappointed with the level of randomness I experienced, most of the times it was long corridors with a few rooms left & right on your way or a long corridor that open up in a big room at the end that has two more corridors left & right like the letter T, those were the dungeons where we need to find some objects that help to open a door, this was the case for the majority of the dungeons I did during the beta & I can't say I liked that, on that aspect the game missed the point completely on how a procedural generation game suppose to be, if the layout of a dungeon is not random enough, if the layout doesn't feel completely different every time you enter, then it's not good enough, you never felt that way for example while playing D2 so on that aspect D4 falls short & completely miss the mark.
5. Cellars, those super-mini dungeons (they are literary one room in size...) doesn't do it for me, for the most part it kept me wondering what's the point? it was nice when their purpose was to help progress some quest but aside from that to have them all over the map when they are not that fun to do & they doesn't offer any kind of challenge, since you need less than a minute to clear everything there is inside, so ye.. the devs imo need to overhaul this feature, it needs to be more challenging, it needs to be more rewarding, it needs to be worth doing else there is no point for it to be in the game, that's my opinion anyway.
6. Lack of Unique Challenging Mobs, the game needs more tough & scary mobs to fight along with those packs of common & magic mobs we slay in large quantities to spice things up during grind, to offer some challenge, to offer that surprise factor we so much need to make grind more interesting & fun & to also offer to players the chance to get some sweet drops from them because at the end of the day that's what the game is all about, I speak for some kind of Elites, Champions, Mini-Bosses even, that kind of stuff, make them big, make them noticeable, make them scary, & finally make them able to put up a fight & make players feel that this is not a target you erase from your screen with a few push of a button & you move on to the next, but that's an enemy that needs a higher level of focus & effort on our part to put them down.
7. Character Creation, the character creation didn't offer the amount of variety & options I would like to see myself & I fount it very lacking compare to what other games ussually offer, it didn't offer as many options in hairstyles, face types, hair colors, eye colors, & in general there was not as many options & it was impossible to create a character we have in our minds because our options are so limited, this btw would lead to the majority of players look exactly the same & that is not ok, that is actually really-really bad.
8. Fonts, ok this might not sound as important for some, but for me reading dialogues from quests that are written with Arial font (here an example https://i.ibb.co/vZSZR9L/Screenshot037.jpg) ruin the immersion of the game, finding journals during grinding & presented with a story written on Arial font ruin the immersion of the game, watching Arial font all over my status window make me to always wonder WTF!? the devs were thinking when they decided to fill the game with Arial font on everything? did they really feel that this kind of font is fitting for a Diablo game? because there is lot's of people out there who can't fathom why they did that myself including...

THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THE FUTURE THAT WOULD MAKE THE GAME MORE FUN TO PLAY

1. Skill Enhancing System, I would like to have the option to enhance/alter my skills in unique ways, to have the freedom to choose from a variety of options in order to create my own unique build, this is something the game needs atm as what the skill tree offer to players definitely lacks depth & there is no way to do what I'm talking about from inside the skill tree currently, compared to some other ARPGs it's really disappointing to see what the D4 devs created, especially since they received so much feedback from players years before the game's release & it seems they either never read it or just chose to ignore it.
2. Vertically Based Dungeons, THIS-IS-THE-FUTURE-OF-DUNGEON-CRAWLERS, I experienced a few dungeons in the game where we had to climb down a ladder to a lower level & you already made the first step but let's take this to the next level, now imagine entering a simple dungeon like those we played during the beta but instead of the usual simplistic, small-scale layout we get a huge totally random maze-like map that aside from the ground floor it also has another 3-5 levels either underground or on the upper floors, & each floor has it's own unique boss, now something like that would be so fun to play & will really feel that I'm playing a next-gen dungeon crawler, an ARPG that has some unique, revolutionary design choices & doesn't feel like anything I've played in the past, Blizzard you are in the perfect spot right now to make that revolution happen, to differentiate yourself from the pack, give to nerds out there what they have only dreamed off till now.
3. Secret/Hidden Doors/Rooms & Destroyable Walls, words can't express how much I love this kind of stuff, my enjoyment level would go up considerable if the dungeons in an ARPG offer this level of exploration, exploration is my thing & I can't enjoy a game if there is no secrets to find, if there is no meaning to carefully explore everything, if there is nothing interesting to discover, so put this kind of stuff in the game & make it worth it for us exploration-junkies although I'm certain that this is something anyone is going to love & it will make the game more fun to play for everyone.
4. PvEvP Dungeon, something for PvX fans, now imagine a massive dungeon where 4 players enter at the same time & spawn at random locations, drop rate is boosted & you can really get some sweet loot inside this dungeon but PVP is always ON & you can't turn it OFF, also in case a player kill you everything in your inventory drop in the floor, doesn't this sound like something that would be really fun to play? for me it sure does!

I will start by saying that I despise D3 & haven't play a Blizzard game since SC2, my history with Blizzard games goes like this Diablo->StarCraft->Diablo2->StarCraft2-> THE END
For many-many years D3 was my most anticipated game, when the game was close to release I could spot from a mile way that this was not the game I had in mind & will definitely not be something I would like to play & that was the case in the end, D3 was by far the biggest disappointment I had in my life as a gamer till now, needless to say I skipped it & act like it never happen.
Forward to D4 Open Beta, I would be honest here although the game looked nice I was almost certain that I wont like it for various reasons, so you could say I was somewhat biased before even start playing, well let me tell you although I could find many things I thought needs improvement the devs at Blizzard who crafted this game manage to give me a hard slap in the face & make me admit how wrong I was, yep I never expected to say this but I was wrong because D4 have been crafted exceptionally & the potential for what is going to become in the future is literally limitless.
During the beta I lived and breathed D4, I played for about 44 hours (check this to get an idea https://i.ibb.co/cFCRKM9/Screenshot082.jpg) apart from sleeping and eating I did nothing but play the game trying to see as much as possible, if the game wasn't fun, if I wasn't having fun playing there is no way I would have spent that many hours playing a game in such a short time, & that is the biggest proof that D4 is fun, so the developers imo can be proud because they created a fun game & I'm sure the majority out there agree with that sentiment.
Anyway let's move on with my review, I'm going to split this review in 3 sections, THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THE GAME, THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE AS MUCH OR AT ALL & IMO NEED IMPROVEMENT, THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THE FUTURE THAT WOULD MAKE THE GAME MORE FUN TO PLAY.
So without further ado:
​
THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THE GAME
​

1. The Game Looks Gorgeous, the visuals & the art direction is on point, exactly how a Diablo game should look like, with that I mean gritty & gory also realistic & serious, so huge props to those responsible for this aspect of the game, they really did an amazing job.
   
2. The Atmosphere, everything is dark & grim, there is people in distress everywhere, people in need of help, you go out of town & you find either people frozen because there were caught on a blizzard, massacred bodies that were eaten by wild beasts, so many other such examples but the atmosphere feels nice, also I liked especially the icy theme & the heavy blizzard out of towns in the first region of the game.
   
3. The Sound Design, there is nothing more to say here other than to give my highest praise to the sound design team because they truly did an amazing job & there is nothing to complain about.
   
4. The Combat, the combat feels really nice (as long you change the combined move+interact+basic attack all-in-one button from the options, else it feels clunky) I had a great time slaying thousands & thousands of mobs while grinding dungeons or taking part on events out in the world map, it felt smooth & neither fast or slow, just perfect somewhere in the middle, it felt really good can't find anything to complain about.
   
5. The Campaign & the Cutscenes, let's put those two together as they are essentially part of the same thing, the main story, at least what we had the chance to experience on the first zone, looks really nice & I enjoyed it while playing, there is ofc some parts of it that I liked more than others, but it was enjoyable for the most part & I definitely looking forward to see more of it, also the cutscenes in some cases were made in exceptionally way that definitely elevate the presentation to the viewers.
   
6. The Side Quests, now who would guess that I'm gonna like the side quests of all things on an MMO, I play MMORPGs for the past 20 years more or less & the side quests was never something I enjoyed doing because they are always terrible made & feel like a chore, well I think that more than half of the side quests I did in D4 was fun & interesting because they were carefully crafted & they were really well made, they didn't feel like side quests to be honest but more like a part of the main story.
   
7. The Transmog/Wardrobe system, I loved this, it's straight 10/10 & I would like to see any game company include this kind of system on their game in the future, it's perfect I love everything about it because it offers so much customization & freedom to alter how your character looks & stuff like that is always welcome.
   
8. The Cinematics, well those are always top-notch on any Blizzard game but I had to say it anyway, especially the intro, the first trailer we saw deserve to get some awards, definitely.
   
9. Monster Level Scaling, before I tried the beta I was against this but then I played the game & I was constantly thinking every time I was roaming some before low level area "if not for monster level scaling this area would have low level mobs that would pose no threat to me & I couldn't get any valuable drops out of them whatsoever..." in short it would happen what usually happen on any mmorpg, all low level areas become useless after a point when your level is high enough & there is no point to revisit all those low level areas anymore, also there is one more reason I liked monster level scaling & I thought this kind of feature suit a game like Diablo perfectly, because it would be anticlimactic to exiting a town & every mob you are facing is low level scrap, if that happen it would definitely ruin the atmosphere that this world is bloody dangerous & there is things out there that wanna murder you & eat you alive, & it's very important to feel that way at all times else the game won't feel as fun anymore, at least not for me.
   
10. Cursed Treasure Chest & Cursed Shrine events, I really like those they have a nice surprise element, instead of getting loot or buffs you get a swarm of mobs in your face, fun mechanic.
    
11. Legendary Aspect System, the fact that every legendary item found in the game has a kind of super mod, which can be extracted and transferred to any item we desire in order to help perfect the kind of character we are trying to build, is something really awesome & I liked that idea very much, especially when you consider that those Aspect mods have also quality levels like any other mod in the game, that means that you are not only searching for an Aspect you need & once you found it that's it, you want it to have good rolls also & that add to the RNG level & that means that there is something more for us to looking forward to when we are out there hunting for loot.
    
12. Sorceress Ice Spells, I played a Blizzard Sorceress during the beta (here a link to some gameplay if anyone wanna check how my character plays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZV7S6uUB5M) & I really liked how ice spells look, especially Frost Nova & Blizzard, & I also liked very much how Frozen enemies look, the devs did a really good job with the ice element.
    

​
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE AS MUCH OR AT ALL & IMO NEED IMPROVEMENT
​

1. The Bosses, there is a few good ones but for the most part the bosses have many flaws from their mechanics, the level of challenge they offer, even their looks for many of them, they are not good enough also there is many similar looking ones on some dungeons that look like they devs copy/paste them everywhere, & also one great flaw over all regardind the bosses is that they are not memorable, there is many memorrable bosses on past Diablo games but I didn't felt that for the bosses I fought on D4, they seem generic & lack identity, the devs definitely need to do more on that front, we would like to have some scary, challenging & memorrable bosses for D4 please.
   
2. Skills Customization, this is more or less something most people who played the game agree I think, there is not enough stuff on the skill tree to build really unique characters & have in mind I'm not saying in any way that I would like to see PoE level of depth but there is a middle ground to be found & I think the devs can do much more to offer to players another layer of depth to customize their build, for example why there is no way to alter our skills & what they do although so many people asked for something like that repeatedly in the feedback we gave? why there is no way for example to change Ice Shard from a single row projectile spell to multiple projectiles or to increase the AOE range of my Blizzard or Frost Nova? we need more options Blizzard, we want every skill to have a number of different options for us to choose from in order to be able to create our own truly unique build.
   
3. Number of Active Skill Slots, it's way too limited atm, I couldn't get any ultimate skill because I couldn't remove any of my current skills from my skill bar because my build would be ruined if I did that, I suggest for two more skill slots if not two definetely one more else it would be impossible for most people to use an ultimate skill, who would choose to put a skill with a CD of 1 minute instead of something else that we would be able to use every few seconds or as often we want as long we have available resources to use? six are not enough Blizzard & most people agree with that, give us more options & don't limit the game to that extent, this could ruin the game for a lot of people you know.
   
4. Randomness of the Dungeons Layout, I did so many dungeons during the beta & I left kind of disappointed with the level of randomness I experienced, most of the times it was long corridors with a few rooms left & right on your way or a long corridor that open up in a big room at the end that has two more corridors left & right like the letter T, those were the dungeons where we need to find some objects that help to open a door, this was the case for the majority of the dungeons I did during the beta & I can't say I liked that, on that aspect the game missed the point completely on how a procedural generation game suppose to be, if the layout of a dungeon is not random enough, if the layout doesn't feel completely different every time you enter, then it's not good enough, you never felt that way for example while playing D2 so on that aspect D4 falls short & completely miss the mark.
   
5. Cellars, those super-mini dungeons (they are literary one room in size...) doesn't do it for me, for the most part it kept me wondering what's the point? it was nice when their purpose was to help progress some quest but aside from that to have them all over the map when they are not that fun to do & they doesn't offer any kind of challenge, since you need less than a minute to clear everything there is inside, so ye.. the devs imo need to overhaul this feature, it needs to be more challenging, it needs to be more rewarding, it needs to be worth doing else there is no point for it to be in the game, that's my opinion anyway.
   
6. Lack of Unique Challenging Mobs, the game needs more tough & scary mobs to fight along with those packs of common & magic mobs we slay in large quantities to spice things up during grind, to offer some challenge, to offer that surprise factor we so much need to make grind more interesting & fun & to also offer to players the chance to get some sweet drops from them because at the end of the day that's what the game is all about, I speak for some kind of Elites, Champions, Mini-Bosses even, that kind of stuff, make them big, make them noticeable, make them scary, & finally make them able to put up a fight & make players feel that this is not a target you erase from your screen with a few push of a button & you move on to the next, but that's an enemy that needs a higher level of focus & effort on our part to put them down.
   
7. Character Creation, the character creation didn't offer the amount of variety & options I would like to see myself & I fount it very lacking compare to what other games ussually offer, it didn't offer as many options in hairstyles, face types, hair colors, eye colors, & in general there was not as many options & it was impossible to create a character we have in our minds because our options are so limited, this btw would lead to the majority of players look exactly the same & that is not ok, that is actually really-really bad.
   
8. Fonts, ok this might not sound as important for some, but for me reading dialogues from quests that are written with Arial font (here an example https://i.ibb.co/vZSZR9L/Screenshot037.jpg) ruin the immersion of the game, finding journals during grinding & presented with a story written on Arial font ruin the immersion of the game, watching Arial font all over my status window make me to always wonder WTF!? the devs were thinking when they decided to fill the game with Arial font on everything? did they really feel that this kind of font is fitting for a Diablo game? because there is lot's of people out there who can't fathom why they did that myself including...
   

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THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THE FUTURE THAT WOULD MAKE THE GAME MORE FUN TO PLAY
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1. Skill Enhancing System, I would like to have the option to enhance/alter my skills in unique ways, to have the freedom to choose from a variety of options in order to create my own unique build, this is something the game needs atm as what the skill tree offer to players definitely lacks depth & there is no way to do what I'm talking about from inside the skill tree currently, compared to some other ARPGs it's really disappointing to see what the D4 devs created, especially since they received so much feedback from players years before the game's release & it seems they either never read it or just chose to ignore it.
   
2. Vertically Based Dungeons, THIS-IS-THE-FUTURE-OF-DUNGEON-CRAWLERS, I experienced a few dungeons in the game where we had to climb down a ladder to a lower level & you already made the first step but let's take this to the next level, now imagine entering a simple dungeon like those we played during the beta but instead of the usual simplistic, small-scale layout we get a huge totally random maze-like map that aside from the ground floor it also has another 3-5 levels either underground or on the upper floors, & each floor has it's own unique boss, now something like that would be so fun to play & will really feel that I'm playing a next-gen dungeon crawler, an ARPG that has some unique, revolutionary design choices & doesn't feel like anything I've played in the past, Blizzard you are in the perfect spot right now to make that revolution happen, to differentiate yourself from the pack, give to nerds out there what they have only dreamed off till now.
   
3. Secret/Hidden Doors/Rooms & Destroyable Walls, words can't express how much I love this kind of stuff, my enjoyment level would go up considerable if the dungeons in an ARPG offer this level of exploration, exploration is my thing & I can't enjoy a game if there is no secrets to find, if there is no meaning to carefully explore everything, if there is nothing interesting to discover, so put this kind of stuff in the game & make it worth it for us exploration-junkies although I'm certain that this is something anyone is going to love & it will make the game more fun to play for everyone.
   
4. PvEvP Dungeon, something for PvX fans, now imagine a massive dungeon where 4 players enter at the same time & spawn at random locations, drop rate is boosted & you can really get some sweet loot inside this dungeon but PVP is always ON & you can't turn it OFF, also in case a player kill you everything in your inventory drop in the floor, doesn't this sound like something that would be really fun to play? for me it sure does!
   

https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/inside-the-rebuilding-of-anthony-mcdonaldtipungwuti-and-his-emotional-return-to-football/news-story/a8d2deb2f7ebeb5dc07863bc4351e753
It was meant to be a beer and pizza night for two mates – retired Bombers Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and Patrick Ambrose – catching up for the first time in months. But it turned out to be the first step on one of the AFL’s most emotional 2023 comeback stories.
McDonald-Tipungwuti was in the middle of a camping trip full of self discovery and cultural connection around Australia.
Far from the madding MCG crowds, he hit the road with his ute, his caravan, his blue heeler, Drover, and at times his mum Jane, and took in Alice Springs, Darwin, Katherine, Broome and his childhood home on the Tiwi Islands.
On this mid-September 2022 night he was over in Perth catching up with his former teammate Ambrose, who had retired from the Bombers in late 2021.
McDonald-Tipungwuti reluctantly pulled the pin on his career in May 2022, just after his 29th birthday, having lost his spark and passion for the game after a few personal challenges and a series of injuries and fitness issues.
The two agreed to have a few beers, share some pizza and sit back in Ambrose’s loungeroom and watch one of the AFL finals matches.
As Ambrose recalled this week: “We walked down to get a pizza near my house and one of my neighbours is a mad footy fan. He was saying to Walla (McDonald-Tipungwuti), ‘You are too good to retire mate, what are you doing?’ Walla only had one slice (of pizza) when he usually would have had a bit more. I was having a beer and usually he would never turn down a cold beer. But he wouldn’t have a beer that night.
“We were watching the footy. Walla was watching it so closely that I had the feeling he was planning something.”
By the end of the night, McDonald-Tipungwuti confessed to Ambrose: “Yep, I’m going to make a comeback.”
Six months on, Ambrose was sitting in the same spot in his lounge room during round 1 watching from afar as McDonald-Tipungwuti brought the red and black faithful to its collective feet again at the MCG.
In his first AFL game in almost 600 days, he came on as Essendon’s sub and kicked what will be one of the most emotional goals this AFL season. “It was awesome,” Ambrose said. “He has definitely come a long way in a short time.”
Just like his outback adventure in the second half of last year, McDonald-Tipungwuti’s return to football hasn’t been an easy road.
He has worked hard to get himself back into the AFL system, even if insiders maintain he still has a significant pathway ahead to become a match-fit contributor regularly.
Despite already losing six or seven kilos, he knows he needs to lose more. Quad soreness meant he wasn’t able to back it up against Gold Coast last week.
The club is unsure when he will be right to go again, but has backed him and the conditioning staff to keep doing the work to ensure he is back as soon as possible.
As Essendon general manager of football Josh Mahoney said this week: “He still has got a valuable career ahead of him if he keeps doing the work, not only as a player (for Essendon) but also as a role model for other players.”

RETIREMENT

FOR Dyson Heppell, the measure of McDonald-Tipungwuti’s happiness has always been his cheeky smile. When it beams, he’s at his best.
It’s been that way since the pair were Gippsland Power teammates in 2010, dreaming of what the game might one day do for them.
“He was always bouncing around with a smile on his face,” Heppell said of the young McDonald-Tipungwuti, who arrived in Melbourne from the Tiwi Islands as a teenager.
So, when Heppell watched first-hand Walla’s cheeky grin vanish in the early stages of last year, he knew there was a problem.
As McDonald-Tipungwuti wrestled with his future last May, he stayed a few nights at Mahoney’s house. “He had lost the passion for training and for trying to work his way back, and it is such a hard game when that happens,” Mahoney said.
“The night before it all happened, we had gone for a walk and we talked through a lot of things.”
Mahoney arrived home from the Bombers’ Tullamarine base the following day to find McDonald-Tipungwuti seated at the kitchen table waiting for him.
“He was sitting there and said that he wanted to have a chat,” Mahoney said. “It was sudden, but it got to the stage where it was the right decision for Anthony to step away from the game.”
An emotional McDonald-Tipungwuti publicly retired the following day in a tearful address to his teammates.
When his facade broke and the tears began to flow, he was consoled by his then skipper Heppell.
His career looked like being stuck forever on 126 AFL games and 153 goals, with a highlight reel of run down tackles and instinctive goals almost the parting gift for the fans.
“It probably didn’t cross my mind at that time that he would ever be back,” Heppell said.
Ambrose agreed: “I could tell he was burnt out … he needed to somehow get the fire back.”

ROAD BACK TO FOOTY

SOMETIMES the best way to find yourself is to hit the road and reconnect with your past.
McDonald-Tipungwuti packed his car and left on a road trip around Australia that took in indigenous communities, meeting and connecting with elders and friends, learning about his past and preparing for his future. He didn’t expect the road would lead him back to AFL football.
But those close to him insist he would never have played AFL game No.127 without the lessons of that road trip.
“He was doing a big lap of Australia with (his dog) Drover and his mum,” Ambrose said.
McDonald-Tipungwuti has spoken recently about what the trip around Australia meant to him and how he was able to find himself.
Wherever he went, the message was the same as the one that Ambrose’s neighbour gave him – at his best he was too good not to have another crack at AFL football.
As Essendon’s post-season was mired in controversy and change, the whispers started to reach his former teammates that Walla was reconsidering his future.
Heppell sent him a few text messages to try and “sniff” out an answer.
“He is pretty limited in his text (responses), he doesn’t like to give away too much,” Heppell said. “You are sometimes lucky to get one back from him.”
There was also another possible suitor in Fremantle.
Dockers coach Justin Longmuir had liked one of his Instagram posts, a connection which led to an informal meeting.
But the pull of Essendon was strong, and the plan offered up by the Bombers new coach Brad Scott was too good to knock back.
There were no guarantees but the communication lines were open.
“There were different people (at Essendon) keeping in contact with him in different ways,” Mahoney said. “But it wasn’t until he got back (to Melbourne) that he started to talk a bit more about the potential of playing football again.
“Brad had been appointed coach at that stage and was keen to talk to him and to see if there was any chance he would consider coming back to Essendon.”
The Bombers were prepared to offer him a spot on the list, a one year deal on limited figures, with the AFL open to allowing McDonald-Tipungwuti to return to Essendon.
Mahoney added: “The meeting with Brad was as much about the new coach wanting to understand where Anthony was coming from, his background, his decision making and Brad explaining to him how he was going to coach him, and what he wanted from him.”

‘HE BLEW UP PRETTY QUICKLY‘’

HEPPELL didn’t know what to expect … but was pleasantly surprised when McDonald-Tipungwuti turned up to his first training session in November last year two weeks earlier than expected.
And, while he was still in sore need of shedding some kilos, he threw himself into it from the first Monday he turned up and completed a tough Friday running session that week.
“He blew up pretty quickly,” Heppell said. “I expected that to be the case, but he loved it.
“He was out there with the boys, chatting with them. It was like us saying to him, ‘Mate, we don’t expect you to be flying overnight. But you need to keep training and keep up the consistency of training’ – and that’s what he has done.”
Scott and the Bombers ensured Tipungwuti wouldn’t be left on his own as he worked slowly – and sometimes painfully – to improve a fitness base that was a long way off AFL standards.
Heppell maintained he needed a football in his hands and to be around his teammates.
“It was a conscious decision made by Brad and the high performance staff that allowed him to not miss a session that we wanted him to do through the pre-season,” Mahoney said.
“The decision was made that he would do all the fitness drills (with a footy in his hands).”
The Bombers know he has a fair way to go – and must keep on top of his dietary issues – if he wants to turn one comeback game into a sustained run of matches.
Incremental gains have been important, with Heppell saying one moment at the tail end of the season convinced him of Walla’s intent.
“He has been smashing sessions off the back of training by himself, to try to drop that weight and get himself in better nick,” Heppell said.
“Usually, you have to push him through the door and help him do it. He would be trying to dodge that extra session wherever he could, with his cheeky smile.
“For me, there was a moment that showed a different side to him. I had a crook foot and was cross training by myself. He was watching what I was doing and he jumped into my session off the back of his own. He wouldn’t have done that in the past.”

THE MOMENT, THE FUTURE

McDonald-Tipungwuti never believed he could have played in round 1, let alone score an emotional last-quarter goal in the Bombers’ big win over Hawthorn.
But he got there … just.
It was a risk, given it would have been a stretch for him to play a full game if a teammate went down with a first-term injury. But the Bombers were prepared to take it.
Heppell didn’t even know he was coming on the field, until he heard the roar of the crowd.
The red and black faithful knew it was a significant moment. The connection between McDonald-Tipungwuti and Essendon fans has always been tight.
That’s partly because of his backstory as the kid from the Tiwi Islands who overcame a tough start to life before making his mark in the AFL.
No one knows how long this comeback story will run for, but the fact that he is smiling again is the most important part, according to those closest to him.

Just thought some people may find this humorous.
So I’ve tanked in ranked, unintentionally. I’ve done what people recommended. - I’ve rewatched many many replays. - I’ve watched many many guides. - I’ve watched many many vods. - I’ve spent hours and hours in practice tool. - I’ve got a champ pool. - I understand the basics and moderately advanced strategies for all roles. - I understand bot lane mechanics and strategies quite deeply. But… I’m stuck because I get frustrated and switch roles. …I’m stuck because I get frustrated and want to play diff champs, which goes against the suggested “stick with your main” mentality. …I’m stuck because I’m not having fun.
So… I really like to play almost all the ADC’s, just not Aphelios. I’ve got m7 on most of them and can play them all decently enough… and I want to have fun and do my thing.
As a result, I’ve decided to start rolling a dice to select my champion in champ select when it’s my turn. No hovering anything. I have 30!secs to roll the dice, which is plenty.
So far I’ve gone 3-0 and have decisively won my lane. WTF?
I think it works because adc matchups aren’t as big in counters as other roles. I get to be mentally stimulated and more engaged in matches because I’m not roboting my way through with the same 2-3 champs.
I know this isn’t some sort of trick, but hey, I’m having fun and testing my true abilities to play this game.

Hi guys, thought I’d make this quick guide as I saw a post the other day asking if it was possible to permanently see your champions attack range. There were plenty of suggestions on that post, but I do it a little differently so I figured I’d make a tutorial so you guys can use it as well. The same technique can be applied to achieve many other things, including some maybe I’ve not thought of, so please post below if you do something similar! Apologies also if a similar post has already been created covering this topic.
I’d like the preface this by saying I’m not entirely sure if this is bannable or not, so please use this at your own caution.
There are two main config files for League of Legends that are used to specify your settings and keybinds. These are input.ini and PersistedSettings.json, and they both live in your League of Legends -> Config folder.
PersistedSettings.json is the file used for all your settings when you’re in-game only. You can edit this file while the client is open. The other file (input.ini) contains all your settings for the client. The values for input.ini get taken from PeristedSettings.json every time values are read from it (which is when you start a match).
I’ve edited my PersistedSettings.json file to set both “evtCameraSnap” (Center Camera on Champion) and “evtShowCharacterMenu” (Show Advanced Player Stats) to “[Space]”
Save PersistedSettings.json after making the desired changes and set it to Read Only in the Windows Properties menu. When you load into a game, you’ll have both binds set to the same key. This is AFAIK the only way to achieve this, as you can’t set two binds to the same key using the client.
Now if you hold down Space, you’re camera will snap to your champion, and you’ll be able to see your attack range!
Once you’ve left the game and your in-game settings show you have both “Center Camera on Champion” and “Show Advanced Player Stats” set to Space, you can turn off PersistedSettings.json from being read only. Just remember, if you accidentally change one of the binds to another key, you’ll have to repeat this whole process if you want to bind it back.
As stated above I’ve only edited this file for this purpose, but there might be other cool things to be done as well :)

2am and I couldn't sleep. Haven't played for a while, and still pretty new to the game so thought I'd log on for a bit, catch up with what the S9 updates are, do some fishing, and just low key enjoy the scenery in my sloop for a bit.
Island hopping for about an hour, managing to avoid a fair few skele ships. No sign of any other players anywhere.
Before I logged off, I decided to call into an outpost to have a look at what voyages I could pick up to do later in the week.
Had my head in the menu, looking at where I was up to with rep etc.
Big ship banner flashes up on my screen (pretty sure it was a galleon!). Text speech from them says "we're friendly!" I'm not on mic because it's 2am and kids are asleep so type back "me too."
Next thing, they jump over to the deck and shoot me. I didn't even register what was going on at first as I still had my menu open.
I wouldn't mind but there were 2 skele ships near by if they were "bored", and my sloop had nothing on board that they couldn't have got from barrels at the outpost.
Now don't get me wrong. I get the game. I get it's PvEvP. And I like navy warfare. But this kind of behaviour that so many of us newer players are utterly unprepared for, is just outright maladjusted.
I really don't want a PVE only server or anything like that, but I honestly think having just one non combat 'safe haven' that players can access until higher levels where they can safely trade (even if it's limited to how much stuff you can hand in a day) / go chill / plan next steps with crew mates/ casually fish could make such a difference to the overall experience of the game, instead of the toxic pile on it has become.

WELCOME TO THE MINI-RACES SMP
Hey guys, I'm a experienced Minecraft player who has played lots of Minecraft, and I have over two years of experience. I've been playing the base game for my entire time playing this game, when I discovered the origins mod. I thought the concept was great and I decided I was going to try. I've been looking for origins SMPs, but all of them are boring and inactive, with no player interaction and dumb addons. So that is the point of the Mini-Races SMP. A SMP with a 300x300 world border in a nice seed with a village and a woodland mansion, on a nice island that supports all origins and makes them viable. I have decided for the health of the SMP, there will be organized playtimes, and with the way school hours works, I have decided the best times are 3:00 PM PST to 6:00 PM PST. For the server to start, we need at least 10 members who can log on for the start of the server to make it fair. I have setup a discord server to organize. If you would like to join, join the server and say what origin you want and your IGN. I will not be playing on the SMP to keep things fair, as I may be a admin abuser. Discord Link: https://discord.gg/pm4nh83d

Welcome adventurers from far and wide! I am running a biweekly campaign based in the Forgotten Realms. The starting location is on an island with a vast culture based on feudal Japan (think Samurai). I do include homebrew elements to my campaign as well as airships and firearms. I run a sandbox campaign where there is no over-arching stories, just experiences and adventures that are completely separate. I do give each character an arch where there will be something connected to their backstory.
Now on to the logistics. Game is played biweekly on Saturday at 12pm Central time through Discord and roll20. A decent microphone is required. Starting level is 3. We roll 2 sets of stats and you can choose which you would prefer using. Death saves are whispered to the GM. Leveling will be based on experience, but that doesn't always mean being a murder hobo. If you encounter something you can talk or sneak your way out of, the same amount of experience is given as if you slaughtered them all. Homebrew character creation is allowed on a case by case basis, though I like to think I am very lax.
Applications can be made here (Roll20 link), may the rolls be forever in your favor.

First off, I just want to acknowledge that this post makes my answer to the question pretty obvious. You may not agree with it or think it could happen in TotK, and that'a totally fine. I'd love to hear your answers to the question and your reasoning! Nevertheless, I think it has a pretty solid foundation and it could be a great way to flesh out a pretty forgettable villain in the Zelda universe.
Demise in the zelda universe is a big villain canonically, arguably the most important. That being said, he doesn't feel like it at all. He's been in a grand total of one game and the appearance of his true form was so brief that he really didn't have a chance to make a memorable impression. His boss fight was hilariously brief (and after learning his patterns, easy). Nothing about it was special.
Right now, he just feels like a knock-off ganondorf who got written in as superior, but felt like an inferior replacement for link's classic foil. I want it to feel like the planned direction for the series rather than see him get relegated to "fun filler villain" status or retconned altogether, which I think will be the direction we're headed if he doesn't appear again soon.
Ironically, I was really opposed to Demise being the antagonist in TotK at first because I've just grown so attached to ganondorf and/or ganon as the series villain. And he is a great villain. However, after seeing everything surrounding this game, I have to admit that it looks increasingly likely that they are building to Demise instead.
1) The corruption of the master sword could point to this. It's the first time we've seen the master sword eroding like this, and Demise's essence is supposed to be trapped in the master sword. This could be how his essence escapes.
2) Hyrule castle lifting into the sky seems like it may signal a return of what was sealed beneath it in skyward sword.
3) Those chosen by the goddess always includes Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf. What if this isn't a mistake, but a prediction that the three of them will ultimately have to defeat Demise together? Ganondorf, free of Demise's curse with the return of his actual self, could help Zelda and Link.
4) This game, seems tied to skyward sword in some way. I don't think the floating islands are a coincidence. Maybe it's a closed loop of time, maybe not, but the point is, thematically, it would make sense if Demise was the first and the last villain in the Zelda series.
Take what you want from this post and leave the rest if you'd like. Let me know if you'd be excited about Demise returning or if you want Ganondorf and would be upset at another appearance from Demise. Also let me know what you think of the likelihood of the return!

Posted over on the Spirit Island subreddit, but thought I’d ask here, too.
Super pumped to try out Spirit Island, and after seeing the current Target sale, I jumped on Horizon mainly for the price.
I just got back from Target where I picked up a new copy of Horizon for $25, but someone just messaged me saying they’d take $30 for a used copy of the original full base game (no expansions). Assuming it’s in decent condition, is there any reason I shouldn’t return Horizon and get the used full game since they’re basically the same price?
I have never played Spirit Island in any form, so this would be my first stab at it. I’m interested because I am a numbers guy, enjoy solving puzzles, and the theme seems awesome!

I'm relatively newer to solo board gaming, and I realize that I do not have many deck builders in my solo board game library, despite enjoying the mechanic a lot. This particular thread and this one were very helpful, but I could use help with recommendations for a deck builder with a few criteria that might narrow the pool down further:

• requirement of quick setup/clean up — I'm a dad of two kids under 3, and sometimes the only way I can play a game is if I can get it on the table within 5 minutes. In the same vein, while I enjoy longer and more complex games, shorter play time is a big plus for this current season of life.
• preference to avoid purchasing more cards/expansions — LCGs spook me because I am limited financially, and I am prone to go overboard by buying everything (but then not getting it all to the table).
• preference for a strongly integrated theme — While I can appreciate a well-designed board game, I sometimes get turned off by mechanics that have nothing to do with the theme. An example from my library is Wingspan, which is a great game but can sometimes feel like solitaire that have little connection to the theme of birds.
• preference for a game with a clear win state — Beat-Your-Own-Score games aren't a complete dealbreaker, but I would prefer not be counting things at the end of the game.
• open to games that can be played both solo and multiplayer

If it helps, here are some games that I enjoy solo: Spirit Island, Lost Ruins of Arnak, The Gallerist, Robinson Crusoe, Maquis, Tiny Epic Galaxies, Rove, Sprawlopolis
A few games that I am very intrigued by (with some reservations in parentheses):

• Moonrakers (I watched this Quackalope video and it seems like the expansions are a must, and the cost quickly rises... It also looks like the solo mode was a later add-on (digital only), and not really a part of the core game.)
• Baseball Highlights 2045 (I'm a big baseball fan, though I hear it's not a requirement to enjoy the game. It is also hard to know where to start, since it comes in so many different bundles/packs/expansions.)
• Imperium Classics/Legends (I have read that it can be "fiddly" which makes me wonder if it will be a hurdle to overcome to get it on the table.)

Thanks in advance for the help!

Picking up some form of Spirit Island for mostly solo play, maybe extra players in the future. I just got back from Target where I picked up a new copy of Horizon for $25, but someone just messaged me saying they’d take $30 for a used copy of the original full base game (no expansions). Assuming it’s in decent condition, is there any reason I shouldn’t return Horizon and get the used full game since they’re basically the same price?
I have never played Spirit Island in any form, so this would be my first stab at it. I’m interested because I am a numbers guy, enjoy solving puzzles, and the theme seems awesome!

So, we’ve already seen a lot of speculation that the area we saw in the sky today is this game’s equivalent to the Great Plateau, and I think I spotted some further evidence to support that idea.
When we see the Ascend ability, Link enters a cave that is located near an archway which leads to a colder area that damaged Link without cold resistant food or clothing. We can see this when Link ascends through the ceiling of the cave onto the snow above.
Inside the cave is a cooking pot, some spicy peppers, and a friendly construct NPC. I think it’s likely that this is our tutorial for cooking and temperature changes in this game. The entire set up is reminiscent of the same tutorial on the Great Plateau, if not even more direct as a tutorial. The entire area also seems designed to make use of the Ascend ability, with the player being taught about temperature the hard way if they use it unprepared.
That’s my main point, but other areas appear tutorial focused too. The area where Link gets a tree branch and then fights a lone construct seems perfect for teaching weapon gathering and durability. Plus, the section with two boulders on a cliff teaches the player that they can use the environment to hurt enemies by pushing a boulder, but the second boulder encourages the player to experiment further if they decided to use the first boulder for combat. If you already took out the enemy with one boulder, the access to another one nudges the player towards using the fuse ability.
The area with the river also seems like a tutorial for the Ultrahand ability and weapon crafting, since there seems to be no other good way of getting across it except for maybe swimming and using stamina restoring food. The prevalence of various vehicle parts that you can use with the ability also encourages the player to experiment.
The only ability we haven’t seen a tutorial focused area for is Recall, although I’m sure that exists up there too. We just didn’t see it here because we already saw it on the way up to the islands. Maybe this means that the tutorials for these abilities will be incorporated naturally into the world rather than in separate shrines.
This could suggest a move away from puzzle based shrines and a greater focus on puzzles built organically into the world, especially in the sky islands which are smaller isolated areas that can be more tightly designed with specific puzzles and challenges in mind. Of course, I’m sure that mini dungeon-like content, an equivalent to shrines, will be in the game, and I actually am leaning towards multiple types of mini dungeons (caves, green spirals? slightly longer mini dungeons with more unique theming based on their location? Plus larger dungeons too) but it’s an interesting thought, especially since I found the puzzles that were incorporated naturally into the world to be the best in BotW.

Screenshot of the Frejord rotation picture.