Tag: v.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game Review
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been ported to just about every platform imagineable, so it was only a matter of time before it became a board game. This cardboard version acts as a prequel to the video game. It puts forth a new plotline in which players are the last surviving members of the legendary Blades — a group of warriors dedicated to protecting the Empire of Tamriel. Members of your company are being assassinated and time is short, so you’re thrust into an initial investigation spanning the length of the empire. This is the first campaign of two, each campaign offering a short multi-session arc divided into story chapters. The second campaign juts off the first narrative with outcomes tumbling forward and affecting future plays.
This structure is actually pretty enticing. You grab a basic character archetype such as a sneaky Khajit or a formidable Nord, outfit yourself with starting equipment, and then dive right into exploring Skyrim. You can swap characters and players between chapters in the campaign if you desire, and it’s all relatively flexible as the overarching framework is light and malleable. You can go it alone and play it as a solo board game, or grab up to three friends and all share in the adventure.
It’s also pleasing to see a story arc that is able to be completed in just a session or two, as opposed to the massive campaign board games that have grown in popularity and require months of dedication. Skyrim is comparatively breezy, which works in its favor.
The downside of this airy approach is that the main campaign narrative is undernourished and not particularly compelling. Thankfully, just like in the video game, the majority of play time is spent ignoring the prescribed storyline and instead focusing on the multitude of side quests frantically popping up all over the board. This is where Skyrim – The Adventure Game finds its spark.
World events, town encounters, and wilderness exploration all poke you with optional jobs like the most zealous of online employment recruiters. Players head to these locations by moving point to point on the game’s large board. Cleverly, all movement is carried out simultaneously, cutting down on idle-time and allowing players to discuss the group’s strategic pursuits in order to cooperatively accomplish the main goals. Then each character alternates drawing their encounter from a deck and assessing their options.
While occasionally you will need to perform dice-based tests and possibly battle a foe, typically you’re offered a personal quest. These side-missions function as travel tasks mostly, such as “head to Morthal and deliver a message to my cousin.” You typically have several quests active with multiple options, firmly establishing the board game’s link to the video game.
The most interesting quests feature multiple steps, utilizing the large card library to provide a string of objectives revealed one after another. There are neat surprises at times that are filled with ingenuity and wit. Sometimes the board and world may change as you can be barred from locations or find allies and safety behind the walls of a town. Completing these tasks is also relatively easy and the rewards come in bundles. They provide you with resources to craft new gear or possibly experience to level up and increase your skills.
Disappointingly, the truly special moments are somewhat uncommon. The quest system is strong enough that even the mundane activities prove worthwhile due to the benefits attained, but the intriguing mechanical twists and entertaining stories are a little more infrequent than I’d like.
In totality, however, there are always things to do and new gear or currency waiting to be earned. Tasks are also resolved quickly enough that there’s a constant internal pressure of pushing yourself to keep going and take just one more turn. Another 15 minutes turns into half the evening, and it’s a simple and direct drip feed of joy that’s difficult to turn down.
The various other systems get the job done, but none evoke awe or fascination. Combat and dungeons are abstract with little drama. The advancement system is workmanlike and you never earn truly world-shaking abilities. Everything folds into the blandness of the main storyline and ultimately feels somewhat hollow.
There is also a fragility in player scaling. With a full complement of four participants, it’s far too easy of a co-operative game. There is no real tension as the increasing threat is effortlessly kept at bay, allowing ample time to wander around and complete quests. As the player count is reduced, you are afforded less time and pushed to be more efficient with each of your actions. In truth, Skyrim the board game performs best with a single player as you’re kept under proper pressure and forced into more difficult strategic decisions.
Another odd quirk is the physical production. It’s a big box but the innards consist almost entirely of the oversized board and a whole swathe of cards. The included miniatures are serviceable, but the cardboard tokens are rather inferior when compared to the majority of hobby board game releases. From wandering monster tokens that are far too small, to resource chits that are accidentally flipped over revealing a different number to track their amount, it all feels somewhat paltry. These details sit in sharp contrast to the beautiful and enormous board, which accurately conveys the sense of scope found in the setting.
The end result of all of this is a tabletop release that is somewhat of a heartbreaker. While it still manages to offer enough entertaining quests to keep me invested and trudging through the muck, it never really elevates itself beyond that. It captures the essence of the Skyrim video game in broad strokes, but it ultimately stumbles when reaching for anything beyond that bar. It’s worthy of some attention, particularly if you’re a fan of its source material, but so are dozens and dozens of other games, many of which offer something truly special.
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What’s next for RISC V?
![What's next for RISC V?](https://static.techspot.com/images2/news/ts3_thumbs/2023/01/2023-01-29-ts3_thumbs-7f7.jpg)
First, some background. RISC V is an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA), a “free” alternative to Arm. ISAs provide a set of common, important but unglamorous “blueprints” for processors. Every processor needs what an ISA provides to do some basic math. They take a lot of work to design and…
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Playing Grand Theft Auto V on PC right now could put your computer at risk
![](https://asset.vg247.com/GTA-Online-Los-Santos-Drug-Wars-DLC-Dax.jpg/BROK/resize/1920x1920%3E/format/jpg/quality/80/GTA-Online-Los-Santos-Drug-Wars-DLC-Dax.jpg)
It is not currently safe to play Grand Theft Auto V on PC, thanks to an exploit that allows hackers to execute code remotely and modify other players’ PC files. While Rockstar is aware of this issue, it has yet to be fixed as of writing.
This exploit came to light late last week, with the full extent of its danger shared online over the weekend. Those affected have had their GTA V account “corrupted”, although the risks could become far more severe. This doesn’t just apply to GTA Online either, those who stick to the story mode are also at risk.
For an idea of what your account getting corrupted actually means, the video linked below shows a player stuck in the top-down loading screen when attempting to go online. You’ll be stuck like this indefinitely, soft locking your account. You can apparently fix this from deleting your Rockstar Games folder from your documents, but even so, it’s best to say clear.
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The Venus Gospel: An Account of George Adamski’s 1963 Visit to Denmark and Belgium – Part V
The Venus Gospel: An Account of George Adamski’s 1963 Visit to Denmark and Belgium – Part V
By Raymond A. Keller, Ph.D., a.k.a. “Cosmic Ray,” the author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising Series, published by Headline Books and available on Amazon.com, while supplies last.
Venus Rising: A Concise History of the Second Planet
Final Countdown: Rockets to Venus
Lady Columba Venus Revelations
Flying Saucers and the Venus Legacy
Precarious Economic Situation
In the world’s then most noted contactee, George Adamski’s concluding remarks to those flying saucer enthusiasts assembled at the 5 May 1963 conference of the Scandinavian UFO Information (SUFOI) group in Denmark, he emphasized the importance of heeding the messages of our brothers and sisters from Venus and the other planets of the Galactic Federation insofar as the peoples of Earth needed to keep their eyes focused on surviving the dangerous age of uncertainty in which they found themselves bogged down in, especially their precarious economic situation.
“The economy of the world today is shaking; and we all know it,” declared Adamski, further stating that, “In previous years, we could resort to wars to build it up through destruction and reconstruction; but in these days with the power that we have of annihilation there is no other way out and there is only one answer. When we start building spaceships, whether for research or going to other planets, this condition will be relieved. For all of the ships will have to be built on Earth, including the instruments and everything needed. Then the economy will be stabilized and learned individuals do not fight.”
Of course, in the United States, we, as American citizens, can be proud that our National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded on July 28, 1958 for the express purpose of the peaceful exploration of outer space. According to NASA spokesman Brian Dunbar, https://www.nasa.gov/specials/value-of-nasa/, the American taxpayer receives an exceptional value in return for every half cent collected out of every tax dollar and allotted to their organization. For example, one reads on the aforementioned-site that, “NASA funding helps small businesses research new ideas and develop innovative aeronautics, human exploration, science, and space technology solutions. Our partnerships fuel growth in industries that will define the future, such as artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.” The visionary Adamski foresaw all of these marvelous benefits resulting from our continued space exploration.
Section V
George Adamski pointed out: “That will be the first time in the history of this civilization that the economy will begin to stabilize and become firm towards space and satisfy humankind’s desire to travel to distant stars. And people will want to go further and continue exploring. Humans will keep on moving and every step they make will call for improvements on the spacecraft and instruments which will be made here. Humankind will have a secure economy and, in the research, will bring out many wonderful things. Even today (in 1963), we already have some of these that will eventually allow every person to live like a queen or king in a world of robot servers. This world is waiting for us to go forward towards that goal, a world that is just a little way off. There will be plenty of time then for everyone to develop themselves. This is really the plan.”
This is quite in line with what futurist Dr. Michael Salla predicted, that there is a veritable “Star Trek future” awaiting all of us as we collectively move beyond the confines of this planet.
Dante Alighieri and his beloved Beatrice visit the paradise planet of Venus in the Divine Comedy-Paradise (1321), Cantos III and IX. Illustration by English artist John Flaxman, made on 1 May 1807, for English translation of Dante’s poetic trilogy. On display in the Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom.
Economic System of Abundance
In an interview conducted by the Mount Shasta, California, Promise Revealed director, Robert Potter, with Moonbase Clarion Commander Aura Rhanes on 20 November 2019 at Cheat Lake, West Virginia, he asked her the following question:
Q. 8.) I realize money as we think of it does not exist on Venus and that your society works as one mind in accordance with natural laws. What can you tell us about how we can achieve the abundance and prosperity enjoyed by the Venusian society here on the Earth?
Commander Rhanes replied: Again, it seems to me that a false belief is coming into play. Economic problems on Earth ARE largely due to false beliefs that are imposed by the leaders on this planet, and it’s in many fields that, “there is only so much that can go around.”
This means that your people must fight over the crumbs of the pie, let alone getting a full slice of the pie, which, of course, can only be enjoyed by the oligarchs.
On Venus, we long ago determined that the solution of this problem is to bake more pies so that everyone can be satisfied.
Credits are based on what we can do to help our sisters and brothers meet their needs.
On Venus, we even have a Department of Happiness to oversee this process.
Continue in the Light of Venus.
This is Commander Aura Rhanes. Blessings to all in the ultimate Victory of the Light.
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(Editor’s Note: Stay tuned to this website for the continued coverage of Adamski’s 1963 European tour, where the Southern California contactee answers sundry and miscellaneous questions about Venus and the Venusians in Part VI of Cosmic Ray’s article, “The Venus Gospel: An Account of George Adamski’s 1963 Visit to Denmark and Belgium.” – Lon)
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Have you had a sighting of a winged humanoid or huge bat-like creature in the Chicago, Illinois metro area / Lake Michigan region? The entity has also been referred to as the ‘Chicago Mothman’, ‘Chicago Owlman’ & ‘O’Hare Mothman’ or ‘O’Hare Batman.’ – Chicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive Map – Please feel free to contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com – your anonymity is guaranteed. Our investigative group is conducting a serious examination of his phenomenon. We are merely seeking the truth and wish to determine what eyewitnesses have been encountering. Your cooperation is truly appreciated.
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