All things considered I'm fairly certain I didn't make it

Maine was cool, figuratively and literally. I'll spare you the details, but I will divulge the trials and tribulations of my first times drinking alcohol that occurred on the trip. I over the weekend, I drank Bud Light, Redd's Apple Ale, Captain Morgan, and a few types of vodka.

Bud Light tastes like liquid bread, and as much as I like solid bread, it's really bad in general. It's basically undrinkable when sober, but it definitely tastes less offensive the more drunk you are. After a while it just tastes like bitter water. I guess it gets the job done if you're looking to get drunk. Redd Apple Ale is okay, but not particularly interesting. Drunk or sober, it just tastes like apple flavored water. Nothing worth getting excited over. I only had Captain Morgan in mixed drinks, so I have no idea how it tastes on its own. I liked the mixed drinks I had, though I was pretty hammered at that point. I don't know any brand names, but I had strawberry, raspberry, and fruit loops (???) flavors of vodka. The fruit flavors helped it go down, and overall they were the least bad out of everything I drank. They still have a weird cough medicine/antifreeze aftertaste to them though that's hard to get around.

I imagine my drunkenness may have been heightened since it was my first & second times drinking. The first night, I was the stereotypical socially lubricated drunk. Said things I probably wouldn't say sober, nothing life ruining. Warm face and impaired motor functions. Night two, I had uncontrollable selective hearing, found almost anything absolutely hilarious, and spent most of the night sitting next to the vodka while trying to catch people's missed beer pong shots.  

That is pretty cool, RG where is it from?! I don't recall..

Yaya, welcome to being of age(?)!
BL is bad lol. US beers suck..if you're looking for some booze expertise, I can help XP


I spent 10 days in France/Switzerland now. France is cool, fancy, and beautiful, mainly. So much cheeeessseeeeee! And Saint Bernard Dogs! love'm! remember how I had one when I was young-to-late-teen? woah. this was a thing.
I went to the top of the Alps, and spent some time in Geneva(OMFG did I just pay 5 euros for a 50 cl bottle of water?!?).

Anyone in the area?

I turned 21 back in April, but never really had a good reason/opportunity to drink until this weekend. I figured I shouldn't start drinking alone until I had some group experience under my belt, and that didn't happen until now. I am open to recommendations.

Why is this so good?

Because you like it a lot.

So I don't know how many people here play Skyrim, but the remastered "Special Edition" is coming out in a week from today (the 28th). It doesn't add any more content, but it makes some graphical improvements and will probably have some bugfixes included. It's 64-bit, so mods can be a lot bigger, and I think it uses Fallout 4's engine which is a bit more advanced.

It's available on PC, PS4/Pro, and Xbox One, and offers limited console mods as well as native 4K support. Since the game uses a newer engine, I think it can also play at above 60fps, which should be amazingly beautiful. Since I have all the DLC on PC I get it for free, so that's nice. What does everyone else think about it?

Seems like an unnecessary cash-in to me. I get Skyrim has been one of the most popular games of the decade, but I would've preferred their efforts be focused on new games rather than slightly updating and repackaging a game that came out 5 years ago. It's one thing to stick a PS1 game on the PSN after remaining trapped on that console for +10 years, but it's not like PS3s and 360s have become uncommon in households, and Skyrim has been available on PC since day 1.

I imagine if I ever decide to replay Skyrim, it will be through this remastered edition. Not sure if/when I'd ever replay it though-- at this point in my life it seems like a massive time sink, and I've played so many other amazing RPGs that have blown Skyrim out of the water since then, that I'm not sure how well it'd hold up.  

I'm disappointed, Bethesda. No 144hz support, and most textures look literally exactly the same. I'm also fairly certain the audio somehow got worse with the remaster, but it's difficult to be certain.

That said, there were some noticeable improvements. Lighting, fog, dust, clouds, fire, snow, and water (especially sitting water like lakes) are infinitely better in the Special Edition. Overall the game looks a whole lot more realistic, beautiful even, as long as you don't go staring at walls close-up. If you stand back to take in the scenery, it's quite pretty. Plus there is actual 4k support now, so even though I don't have a 4k monitor I can still supersample down to 1080p without that obnoxious "$LEVEL UP" notice in the bottom right. So that's nice.

I am most upset, however, that they chose to specifically add a 60fps cap rather than adding 144hz support to their engine, which is what I thought they would do. This is just lazy. Who makes a AAA game, especially a remaster, in this day and age without pandering to us needy high-end PC gamers??? I spent way too much money on my rig to simply have games look normal.

EDIT: Wow, I wasn't imagining it. The audio is indeed a lot worse in the Special Edition.

Tbh, the high-end PC gamer crowd can be absolutely insufferable. I understand the desire to put your purchases to good use, especially if you've dumped a lot of money into a PC, but the number of angry gamers who descend like a swarm of locusts onto every AAA title to vomit up their PC's specs and complain things aren't perfect is super annoying. Then the blindly raging mob who's ears perk up at every mention of fps is a whole other enchilada. Maybe I'd see things differently if I didn't play PC games on an HP laptop that overheats easily and has a hinge that pops out of place.

I'm not specifically criticizing you Atvelonis, but you've logged over 700 hours into the original version of Skyrim already. I just have a hard time understanding why you bought it. So nice you had to buy it twice?

It comes free with Skyrim Legendary Edition, so I don't believe he had to pay for the Special Edition.

Also, I agree that any good PC game should support 144 fps. It just makes everything look so much better.

Oh, well I take back the 2nd part of my post then. Apologies to Atvelonis. I guess if it was free, nothing lost, nothing gained?

Yeah, I mean I am grateful that they gave it to me for free. Overall it is a step up from the original game, quite a big one in fact, but it didn't really live up to the expectations that I had (perhaps naïvely) set for it. I am going to be enjoying the enhancements that it did give; they make the game a lot more beautiful and a lot more immersive. I can certainly live with 60fps, even if it isn't quite as high as I'd like. I just feel like they had the ability to improve it a lot more and they didn't really take it as far as anyone was expecting, which was disappointing.

How many people actually have 144hz monitors...

An increasing number of people have 75hz, 120hz, 144hz etc. monitors (and even TVs), but 60hz is still pretty much the standard. However, it's not immensely difficult to introduce 144hz support; any well-programmed game allows you to play at any framerate and at any resolution. In Skyrim, the engine apparently uses the 60fps cap to count time, which is seriously lazy, especially for a company of their size. This is why the physics freak out when you set your monitor's refresh rate to above 60.

Fortunately, Fallout 4 and most other recent games don't experience this problem. I think developers are being a little more careful not to take damaging shortcuts like that. I noticed that DOOM in particular is really well-optimized, though I think id made that, not Bethesda? Anyway, like I said I am a little disappointed but I guess I'm already used to it in Skyrim after all.

There is barely any benefit above 60fps, so I can see why they can't be bothered. The 'increased smoothness' people claim at levels above 60fps is usually just a placebo

Are you trolling...? Have you ever used a 144hz monitor? There's a very noticeable difference, it certainly isn't placebo. Especially after you get used to 144fps, 60fps feels jittery in comparison. 60fps isn't bad, 144fps is just better.

It's not placebo.

I suppose that once you're used to 144fps, 60 might seem jittery, but I play at 60fps (my monitor can't display any more than that) and it looks fine to me. In fact, I barely notice when my framerate drops to around 50.

Hey, what are your guys opinions on my avatar?

It's time to stop.

I'll avoid posting any mean starter pack memes and just say it seems typical for a 14 year old?

Woo, just as planned! Now I have finished the goal on my checkbook.

To make a grown man cringe through the internet.

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Thanksgiving is coming up. What is everyone's favorite type of pie? I have only recently been introduced to the realm of pies so I don't have much experience about which ones are best.

Wasabi and Soy Sauce