“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
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 hope this can bring you some measure of joy and isn’t too silly for the context https://youtu.be/7JkrJUAg8aI
Seems like we’re not entirely sure, but the most widely-accepted theory is that Portuguese sailors heard a Sinhala name and got it a little muddled when telling others Europeans about it
One British guy who got captured there while working for the East India Company wrote that it was this, except for that Europeans intentionally named it after Christopher Columbus because it already sounded really similar
A bit of a niche one: I am a big fan of the TTRPG Lancer, and a popular meme format is describing things in the game by cutting and pasting bits of the rulebook like a classic ransom letter
To quote from the modlog:
Or because it’s a theocracy based on religion that literally says “God is telling us to kill everyone else”.
Making claims about what religion says means you’re either talking about the religion the country and missed an “a” before the word “religion”, or you’re talking about every religion. I think it’s probably the former, but either way Islam falls under it
They’ve had that government for a long time and were content to sign the JCPOA. You don’t have to like the Iranian government at all to recognise that it was not the party to break that deal
Also, Pakistan is a Muslim country which has had nukes for decades without using them on anyone. Being Muslim does not make you want to nuke the rest of the world
Mirepoix! You can also swap the carrot for bell pepper to get the Cajun equivalent
Spirit in the Sky specifically is a fuzz running on a near-dead battery, so it’s a bit of an odd one. I think the broad approach to the sound is fairly popular though. Stone Foxes come to mind as an example
Sometimes stuff is just popular for a good reason. I love loads of different styles of guitar, but I think my favourite heavy riff is probably the chorus one starting at 2:02 in Saor’s Children of the Mist
Or maybe Flying Whales because, I mean, it’s Flying Whales
Presumably because it’s Amazon doing it. It is quite reasonable to have a general level of distaste and suspicion for tha company
I think that’s an error on the AP’s part, since the area prior to this was about 87 sq mi (from the census). Also, anything less than 73 sq mi would mean that adding 73 more would “more than double” it; if it was 72 sq mi and you added 73, that’s a 101% increase, or more than double
Still, anything on the order of “less than 100 sq mi” is pretty damn tiny. If it was an independent country it’d be only a little bigger than San Marino
That’s what I would instinctively go for as well here in the UK, but to be fair I have no connection to any kind of fishing
I was greatly surprised when I learned that the country is named after the tree and not the other way around