Start intentionally pronouncing “Pittsburgh” with the -burgh suffix from Edinburgh or Musselburgh to get them back

https://youtu.be/uYNzqgU7na4

This one?

I was greatly surprised when I learned that the country is named after the tree and not the other way around

“Scotland” is very literal. It’s the land of the Scots

In Scottish Gaelic - never the language of the whole area of the modern day country and a very small minority nowadays, but nonetheless a language that is uniquely Scottish and very influential on our history - it’s Alba. This one is kind of interesting, because it originally meant the entire island of Great Britain. “Scotland” in Scottish Gaelic therefore sort of means “Scotland, England, and Wales”

I have a personal suspicion - while recognising that I am by no means an expert on the topic and have no real evidence - that that origin story is a reflection of the Proto-Indo-European migrations as viewed through a lens of contact with Rome. The PIE homeland was roughly modern day Ukraine. When Romans show up in Britain and talk to the locals, their empire would have been the first society to have some knowledge of that area that Britons or Gaels had met in… well, forever. If they successfully described the area of the PIE homeland, a Roman with a good knowledge of the geography of the empire and its surroundings during the period of Roman arrival in the isles would say that they were describing Scythia

I am this and have no regrets

Couldn’t tell you, I’m afraid. I only know about the game because I happened to be in a pub where it was on the TV at the time

Those are the names of the German footballers (soccer) that scored to make probably the worst defeat the Brazilian team has ever suffered

The actual paper the number comes from (Fate of Empires by John Glubb) is complete bullshit, though. Even the cherry-picked examples it uses, which are limited strictly to the surroundings of the Mediterranean, don’t use any kind of consistent criteria for when an empire starts or ends. He tries to count “Alexander (and his successors)” as one coherent entity and then picks an end year in which all of them had either already collapsed long ago or would not do so for many decades to come. He cuts centuries off of the Roman Empire’s lifespan by just saying that the empire was unstable and getting invaded a lot (and ignoring the Eastern Empire entirely). HIs reckoning of the “Arab Empire” includes three separate caliphates, and the end date isn’t even the actual end of any of them

Other than that, no, it does not attempt to find an average in the sense of a mean lifespan. It actually does argue that 250 years for an empire can be compared to a human living 70 years.

Is it particularly more your fault that things don’t better in Souls games than in any other game in which you are meant to save the world? I think the only difference is that in the Souls ones and others like them, the world is already horrible and needs repaired in some way rather than on the verge of becoming horrible

Interestingly Elden Ring went for quite a different direction. The world is, unquestionably, still an enormous mess that would be horrendous to live in, but they’ve left in far more of the beauty. I particularly like how every so often you hear hostile NPCs playing music or singing if they haven’t spotted you yet, and how there’s a little puzzle side quest about a painter; people are still making art in this ongoing apocalypse. One important allied NPC even actually openly makes an argument that the world is worth preserving if it looks like you’re going for the “destroy everything” ending

Of course the atmosphere and gameplay are still heavy going, both in the Souls trilogy and Elden Ring. I get why that wouldn’t be for everyone. It’s like playable Cormac McCarthy stories, except you can punch your way out of most of the misery if you get it right

I’d be very surprised if “cartoony style” and “low-tech vibe” is not describing Wilds. I assume the bit about respecting of time is something to do with the various timed events in each loop like Ash Twin. I don’t agree with them in the slightest, but I assume that’s what it is

I’m not sure I’d count Outer Wilds as a space game (assuming you mean something in the vein of Elite Dangerous), despite it objectively including a lot of space travel. It’s a detective game, the point is to unravel a mystery

Could you talk a little more about the aesthetics thing? I have no intention to pick a fight with you or tell you that your opinion is wrong, I’m just curious because I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that about them before

Also yes the no pausing thing is very frustrating

The gear would not have saved you. The game gets substantially more difficult as you progress, even accounting for your character getting stronger, and if you don’t do a decent job of levelling up appropriate skills that will compound the issue. The starter gear for most of the classes is actually perfectly viable all the way to the end of the game for most players too, it’s not notably weak at all

I love Elden Ring, but I can absolutely respect why it wouldn’t be for everyone. No sense in playing it if you’re not enjoying it, the point is still to have a good and/or interesting time

I had to go back out after giving it to him, and when I got home an hour later he had simply curled up and gone to sleep exactly where he was

Ahh okay, I get you now

Khajiit are the catfolk from the Elder Scrolls games. They usually also have a notable speech pattern in which they do not use first-person pronouns, preferring “khajiit” or “this one” to “me” or “I”

I hope this can bring you some measure of joy and isn’t too silly for the context https://youtu.be/7JkrJUAg8aI

You take the high road And I’ll take the low road And I’ll be in Scotland before you

Wait shit someone’s going the wrong way here