Fierce_LiNk

Not gonna lie, it was hard not to smile when I saw all of those familiar faces in that house. Really love Wild Hunt and its expansions. That music, too.

If you're not enjoying it at that point, then it's just not your thing. No sense in playing something you're not enjoying.

It's not really the type of game that you can put down for a while and then come back to much later on, especially if you're still in the early stages. I'd wipe everything, put down every other game and jus dedicate my time towards it. How far are you into it? There's no real advice I can give you that can make your time with it any easier, except for the above. It's a fantasy/adventure game, so it either grips you or it doesn't. It's a bit like Game of Thrones in that sense. You'll either love it or you won't. There's nothing really to "get".

We watched the Belgium game against Greece tonight and it's funny just how many parallels there are between Belgium and England. I think the fans there are just as pessimistic as the English are. You hear the same sorts of things mentioned at half time and during the commentary. Belgium luckily managed to get a winner through Lukaku.

I very much enjoyed The Last of Us the first time around. But, the second time, I just truly appreciated it on a whole another level. I love it and it's one of the best games that I've played. The game is sublime at storytelling, crafting characters and building a believable post-apocalyptic world. The dialogue and interplay between the characters is also fantastic, too. This is before I even talk about the soundtrack, which is surely one of the greatest. I listen to the soundtrack at least once a week or so on Spotify and for me it was the game changer with how movie-like music in gaming could become. The whole thing is a package and gameplay is just a part of that deal. I found that the gameplay really helped to build suspense. You could be running low on ammo and supplies and then you might approach a tunnel with tons of the infected running around in the distance. It's very much like the old school Resident Evil games in that respect. There are moments where you can go in all guns a-blazing. Or, you can go in stealthily. Or you can run. There's actually a lot of ways to approach each fight. In my second run through, I was a lot more careful about my supplies and would take what felt like an age before I made each move. Sometimes I'd throw a brick to distract an infected, or lure them towards me before taking them out quietly. The gameplay felt quite "authentic" to me. It didn't feel manufactured like here's a dungeon, pull this lever to go through, solve these twenty puzzles to beat a boss. It's not that kind of gameplay. When playing it the second time around, I was able to appreciate the world a lot more and have to say that I thought the level and world design was great. For me, this is one game that certainly lives up to the hype.

Sensible decision! Man, living with someone who is not family is a whole different learning curve. I'm lucky in that @Eenuh is the easiest person I've ever lived with. Living in halls and then with different people at uni was certainly an experience, mostly positive. Very fun, too. Yeah, I'd struggle moving back in now. The year after uni when I moved back in was so difficult and I knew that I couldn't maintain it for the long term.

I think it's becoming more increasingly common for people to live at home with parents for longer, especially as house prices are extortionate and it's just impossible for a large section of society to get on that ladder. I can definitely say that I have had no regrets about initially moving away from home and from now buying our own place. It's really awesome to know that you can make alterations or big changes and there's a greater sense of ownership. It's good that you acknowledge that you want to make your own way, which shows that you're ready. Sometimes we appreciate things more when we know that there's a great deal of difficulty involved in it. Good luck! Will the new place be for both you and your partner?

The viewing part is the really fun bit. You get to go to all of these different places (and you will see a huge range!) and just imagine if you could see yourself living there. The first one we looked at was lovely downstairs, but the garden and upstairs killed it for us. The second place we looked at was just completely different in almost every way. A bit of a pain to park and the kitchen was practically none existent. It was so hilariously small and I knew from @Eenuh's reaction that it was no straight away.

I believe that it's recommended to have 10% of the house price. From doing it all, you spend so much money on furniture, decorating, painting, fixing lots of issues and so on. You're looking in the north of England, so I assume the house prices will be cheaper? It really is worth taking a bit more time to save up for a bit longer as the money just disappears so quickly.

Which areas will you be looking at? Bos Vegas?!

Thought the chance had gone when Alli chose not to shoot, but luckily Kane was in a great spot to put it away. Should settle the team down now and they can get a few more.

I'm actually tempted to do more work whilst watching this. It's that dull. Hope Rashford injects some energy into this team. England aren't ballsy enough to try anything attacking like that. Deep down, it's always safety first.

This England game is shit, so far.

It was excellent viewing just to see how many transfers didn't happen. Barkley will be the highlight for me, but Sanchez not going to City is another one. Mahrez seems to have made a meal out of his situation, too. I wonder if this means we'll be in for an interesting January window, with the players who didn't get a chance to move this summer (those that saw their deals fall through) finally moving along.

Yeah, the Watford/Udinese deal from a few years back was just dodgy as hell. Never quite sat right with me, that one. We'll have to pay close attention to see what happens. It would be insane for PSG to win the Champions League and they've got a great chance now with the types of players that they're acquiring. Like you say, it'll be years before we know the impact of these signings. Yeah, I can't quite work out why they're going for Barkley or what the game plan is here. I still think Barkley is a talented player and I do like him...and I think he's a bit of a melon not going for this deal. Could be a major chance to revitalise his career. If he stays at Everton, he's going to have pull his finger out as he's falling down the pecking order there and the manager has made it clear that he's not a fan.

Apparently Ross Barkley has turned down a last-minute move to Chelsea. Deal agreed at £30million. Player began his move and travelled to London for the medical and but is reported to have changed his mind and is on the way back now. Wow!

Ouch, that's awful, man. Hope she recovers very soon and that they can hep with her pain. What happened, did she fall and land on it awkwardly?

The bolded part is exactly what I was saying. The championship as a whole is weakened due to this move because there is a huge, undeniable disparity between PSG and everyone else now and this is down to PSG largely breaking and bending the rules. Especially if Monaco continue to sell their prized assets, as their better players are constantly linked away to other top European teams. No denying that Serie A has become weak, which is need of a big shake up and improvement. Sergio Conceicao manages Porto, so Claudio Ranieri manages Nantes now. Can't really agree about Sneijder being a great signing. His best days are behind him and I think you'd have to be hardpressed to count him as a marquee signing. The original point was about whether French football would get a rise from Neymar and Mbappe. My response is that it's great for PSG and very few other French clubs. PSG are undoubtedly breaking the rules to achieve this. I'll be happy to be proven wrong and for another team the win the league this season. I'd welcome it. Competition is good, but the only way that teams will improve is if they keep hold of their better players.

You could try adding in seated shoulder press stuff. I do it with a barbell and quite enjoy it. I do it as well as standing.

Yeah, you pretty much need that in your native language first before learning an additional language. Unless there's a way to do the two side by side. E.g. here's how to ask "what are you doing?" in English. Here's how you say it in Dutch: "wat ben je aan het doen?" With a breakdown about where the verbs are, how they are modified, etc. The Dutch grammar stuff on the web version of Duolingo is actually pretty decent for some of this sorta stuff, but I don't think it has it for all of the different tenses. It's also unavailable on the app version, so that's a downside. It's at the bottom of some of the sub-sections, but is more like a reminder, not as a true teaching tool.

I'd very much appreciate some more formal type of lessons. I'm constantly asking @Eenuh questions about Dutch, like "why is it this way?" "when do you use this word?" "why is this word here and not there?", etc. It's a massive undertaking, though. I wouldn't even know where to begin with something like that. You'd have to have sections which explain what verbs, nouns, adjectives are and talk about subject and object, stuff like that first and then build from there. It would get very technical, as languages can be that way. Could be amazing if pulled off!

I'm not sure if French football is going to get a wake-up call. All of the talent is getting scooped up by one team. It's far healthier for French football for Mbappe to stay where he was. Sure, PSG are assembling an insane team, but competition is healthy. It's crazy that Alexis Sanchez will probably stay at Arsenal now. Oxlade-Chamberlain has gone, Gibbs has gone, Alexis wants out and Lemar doesn't want to come. So, Arsenal have put an insane bid in for a player, haven't got that player, and are stuck with a player who wants out and who will most likely go for nothing next season. That's terrible organisation from the club. The players mooted about being transferred to Arsenal in exchange of Alexis (Sterling and Aguero) turned them down, so basically nobody wants to play for Arsenal. How are they getting themselves into such a mess?

How is everyone doing with the language learning? I've been using Memrise Pro and am quite a big fan of it now. It's a bit better than Duolingo at the whole reviewing and relearning thing, although I prefer the interface for DuoLingo. The Memrise way of doing Japanese is actually pretty good and I've been making decent progress with it. Importantly, I feel that the information is beginning to stick. It's still early days yet, but I'm quite enjoying Japanese. It's different to the other languages that I'm more familiar with.

That Renato Sanches transfer is a huge coup for Swansea. Brilliant for the club and he could become a fantastic player to watch in this league. Smart move to actually go on loan and get some experience rather than sit on the bench or reserves doing nothing. Apparently the Arsenal move for Lemar is off as he wants Liverpool! But Liverpool don't want him and want to keep Coutinho, who wants to go to Barcelona. If Lemar doesn't go to Arsenal, then Sanchez stays and doesn't go to City. Crazy business! Wouldn't it just make more sense for City to go for Lemar?