I got my hands on a copy of Rise of the Tomb Raider recently, and while playing I noticed that Lara would "helpfully" try to push me toward the correct solution to a puzzle, often while I was simply looking around to make sure I wasn't leaving any loot behind. Worse still, it could be literally every 10-20 seconds or so that she would repeat the same hint. It got infuriating after a while, and I was horrified (okay, I'm exaggerating, but whatever) to find that there wasn't a setting available to get her to shut the hell up.

I loved Tomb Raider games because you had to solve the puzzles yourself. Having the game hold your hand the entire way kind of defeats the point of that. It was really disappointing knowing that I couldn't play the game without either having a puzzle spoiled for me or having the obvious repeatedly pointed out to me. It was like having Navi from Ocarina of Time nagging me all over again, but worse, because at least I could ignore Navi and just deal with the occasional "Hey, listen!".

This sort of hand-holding seems to be getting increasingly more common, at least in my experience. The form often differs--e.g. in Skyrim you have quest markers that not only guide you all the way to a dungeon, but all the way through it--but it's there. I feel like the worst of it is that gamers don't get to actually play the game autonomously or at their own pace, and that this sort of thing violates a basic principle of "show, don't tell".

Am I just really unfortunate with the games I've been playing lately, or is this really as common as it seems? What examples of hand-holding have you run into that you found disappointing?

I went through the topics and did not see a previous on on this, so I am curious what your current favorites are, from both a single player experience offline (no pvp or multiplayer mode) or MMORPG wise?

Bonus points for new MMORPGS and undervalued titles which are just fun and engaging to play. I have to have the ability to get up and walk away at a moments notice for work purposes, so pvp and requirements that I spend a lot of continuous time are hard to find in a fun game, even if I do not get called away like that for days at a time. I am into strategy more than FPS, but all are welcome!

What video games that are coming out soon do you have your eye on?

There's a co-op game for the Switch coming out next year called Rite of Ilk that I think would be fun. I don't have a Switch yet but I'll probably be getting one in a couple months.

Also, still waiting patiently for Miegakure like it was Godot.

A well known issue of reddit (and most of the internet these days) is gifs as a fundamentally more popular way to consume videos. There are good reasons for this in the current makeup of the internet with mobile browsers dominating the online space. Voters are likely to be using mobile browsers and mobile browsers are likely to be the dominant browser. Gifs have no sound which is preferable out-and-about, they also tend to load better than videos, especially if a user doesn't want to switch to a dedicated mobile app that will load that video or popup a "open in" notification. Even many PC users simply don't like the extra time it takes to load videos over a gifv.

This is however not preferable for a high-quality site. It results in content creators not getting views for their work. It results in sources of content not being posted at all on many occasions, even in comments. Many of the game subreddits have people that create gif clips of a video just because it will be more popular, then post the source video that it's from in the comments. It's not ideal.

How can this be solved?

I encourage everyone to answer this question using the wildest of fantasies, even if you think the idea might be unfeasible at a technology level. Let the people working with the code decide if its feasible or not, put forth your wildest idea to solve it.

I'll start: Perform processing of video to gif as a function of the site. Provide users with the ability to choose a preference of gif vs video. Give people the section of the video as a gif clip but also provide the content source with a view of the clipped section (somehow) so the source actually does get a view of that video in that section for its clipped part.

This potentially unfeasible suggestion provides the best of both worlds, providing the user with the type of clip they want (gif/video) which will be better for their browser while also providing the source creator with a view on their video even if the user views the gif. At the same time this also ensures that a majority of gif content (at least for videogames/twitch/youtube, the majority) actually does have the source because it used the site's own clipping tool to set the gif. No need to use anything else if it is site integrated.

Other ideas and thoughts on this topic? Programmable ways to solve it? Preferences? Moderation?

My friends and I just finished our first run through EDF 4.1, and we had a blast. We each accumulated about 60 hours in the game doing so. Some of that was probably spent goofing around on other classes or strengthening up a bit for the three or four missions we got stuck on. All in all though, I'm amazed that it took us that long to get through.

Actually, I'd say that's my response to this game in general. For something I had never really heard of, it was surprisingly good. The game was ridiculous at the start with the giant bugs but as it went it somehow just got crazier and crazier. The scale of the game was just fantastic in terms of enemy variety and size. The hilarity of the B movie writing paired with the outrageous gameplay made it an uproar between the four of us.

The progression system was decent and probably the weakest point. The sheer amount of equipment was a big plus, since it's always exciting to see something new at the end of a mission and find out if it's any good or not, but it was pretty easy to identify an optimal strategy for each mission. There were some classes of weapons (for ranger at least) that were outright useless in a practical sense, which is disappointing. The variety in weapon design is great, but it's unfortunate that it couldn't be more balanced.

Are there any other games that really scratch this itch? I can think of a lot of four-player co-op games that don't really fill that void. EDF is too fast-paced, has too many good "wtf moments", and has too enjoyable a progression system. For those of y'all on ~ who have played it: what other games did you enjoy that were sort of alike to EDF 4.1?

For me, its Arrested Development and South Park. I love AD for its meta-humour and inside jokes. However, I liked only the first three seasons. Here is a great video explaining what makes AD different. South Park for great satire and taking the humourous approach on complex topics. This video explains better than I could.

So, which are your favorite comedy tv shows and why do you recommend them?

Oddly all off a sudden, while I was watching a video, my phone started to play the same sound as my PC speakers. It was kinda of cool, like my phone was a second speaker. But it did it automatically. Anyone else see this? I have access to YouTube music now so maybe that's a new feature or something?

edit: My device is Windows 10 PC using regular Chrome and Google Pixel XL (Android P)

Me and a few buddies have recently picked up Guild Wars 2 (playing on Stormbluff Isle) and we haven't really done much WvW. We all enjoy Open World PvP, and I believe there is a lot of potential there, but we need a larger group to really get into it. Anyone on ~ that plays GW2 on SB Isle that has a group to roam WvW?