Borderlands and Full Metal Furies spring to mind.

Rehydrate!

Not massively into D&B but this is one of my favourites:

Keeno (feat. Rou Reynolds) - Shelter From The Storm

I thought “cakewalk” was a clever American amalgamation of “a piece of cake” and “a walk in the park”.

Turns out it’s actually related to slavery, so probably doesn’t count.

But then you’re just pushing the unknown/undefined part to “feels like”.

We cannot define it properly so we can’t discuss it formally or make assertions like it’s the only thing in the universe that is not an illusion.

You could assert “Cogito, ergo sum.” but that’s kind of been done before.

I couldn’t claim to have a definition as the origins of consciousness are still unknown to science and not formally defined.

However your definition is definitely not the widely accepted one. It doesn’t even offer a proper definition, all it does is push the unknowns to “what it is like to be that organism”.

Who defines what it is to “be” something? What is the smallest unit of “being”? Are we saying that consciousness is an inherent property of organisms or could it be recreated on a computer?

Ok, I agree it can’t be an illusion the way you define it, I don’t think that would be an unpopular opinion.

I also maintain that it cannot be defined the way you define it.

Yes my point was that if there was a hypothetical being outside our universe looking in they could correctly say that our consciousness is an illusion from their subjective experience.

It’s an oversimplification because that is not the scientifically accepted definition of consciousness. It is currently undefined and seems to be an emergent property from the brain, the complex object known to us.

If the universe is a simulation then conciousness could be considered an illusion to those outside the simulation. From an internal perspective it wouldnt be an illusion as it’s the only thing that we experience.

However we have trouble even defining what counciousness is (an oversimplified quote from a philosopher doesn’t cover it) so it seems pointless to make such speculative black and white statements about it.

Phase 1 of seizing the means of production initiated, comrad.

Me: Here’s the URL for the web service I’ve just deployed. I’ve set up users and permissions so just copy it into your browser and you should see a very similar system to what you’ve been trained on with all your data in there.

Customer: All I’m getting is a blank screen.

Much panicking and headscratching later…

Me: Waaaiiiiittt, did you press Return/Go after copying the URL?

Customer: That was not in the instructions.

So if all world leaders collectively agreed to put aside their differences, ditch capitalism and mobilise their entire populations to actively work to reduce emissions tomorrow we might stand a slim chance of preventing the worst case scenario…

I expected it to be difficult with a possibility of not enjoying it but seemed pretty popular so thought I’d give it a go.

Will give your suggestions a shot but I find everything about it obtuse to be honest. To me good game design lowers you gently into mastering the controls and ramping up difficulty, not just chucking you in at the deep end with confusing menus so it’s on the player to look everything up.

Cheers, probably just not for me then.

Elden Ring.

Waited all year until it was on sale as I thought it might not be my cup of tea, tried not to let my prejudice get the better of me but felt it was such a drag I had to put it down.

It was recommended to me as I like Zelda but it couldn’t be further from the things I like about it: innovation, fluid gameplay, freedom, puzzles, multiple ways to tackle enemies.

I don’t think it’s the difficulty as I play lots of roguelike and bullet hell games. My main gripe is the clunkiness of the combat to the point it’s unfair. Like you don’t really stand a chance through reactions alone, you have to learn the patterns and hitboxes of enemies so that you know in advance when to react.

Also I kept hearing how good the graphics are but I think they’re kinda average although the actual art style is quite nice.

Any suggestions on how I might enjoy it would be much appreciated as I haven’t got very far.