Cyberpunk 2077 is in great shape now. I played it at launch, and loved it. So yea I might be a little biased.... But I booted it up this past weekend, for the first time in a year or so and man, they sure have updated it a lot. Playing on Series X and it looks fantastic. It plays great, super smooth. They’ve…

Agreed, I think it looks fucking amazing in its current state. Too many people out there shitting on the leaked footage for no reason. The leaks actually made me more amped to get the game. More of a reason for me to snag a PS5.

It’s really unforgivable a great show got treated like this but at least they got enough warning to write a proper ending. And they got

The GTA games stories usually follow with an idea and take on the current socioeconomical and political landscape, and things have changed a lot since GTA5's release - which is why I imagine why we have a poc female protagonist now. I admit, things will be interesting when it comes to comedy.

I concur. He’s the Elf that was the progenitor of the Orc race. He may turn out to be a rival of Sauron.

I must say, I very much am enjoying the Dwarven set and clothes and costumes and lighting designs. While watching this episode I was thinking “this is exactly what a live action Dragon Age should look like” lol (a game very heavily ‘inspired’ by Lord of the Rings).

Yes!  I completely agree.  His face said it all.  He felt pain in killing that orc and I think we are seeing the proto orcs which were made during Morgoths reign.

I forgot how much I like Joseph Mawle. There’s just something about his speaking voice, that almost whisper, that is unexpected and arresting. Works so well with lines like “I went down that river once, when I was young... ”. I hope we get to see a lot of Adar on the show, whoever he is.

I’m surprised Tolkien fans would find any Middle-Earth drama slow. That’s normally my opinion of them, for all my love of LotR and all it inspired. I think it would be difficult to say one or the other covered more or less plot/character material per hour, but I found the movies tedious and am engaged with the series…

That would also help explain the pain in his eyes when he had to kill that orc. He was clearly feeling something there I didn’t expect to see. There wasn’t just reverence between them but affection.

This new episode mentions Armenelos by name as the capital city of Numenor, a name that only appears in The Silmarillion.

Sure, I’m not claiming any comprehensive knowledge. The only Tolkien I’ve read in the last 10+ years have been the Appendices and most of the Silmarillion. But Hurin, when freed, went around spreading that curse like it was his job.

“I’m actually starting to lean further towards the Stranger being Sauron camp, especially after the barkeep took the meteor as a sign for Sauron’s return. The Stranger is a bit too good to be true. What better way to introduce Sauron the Deceiver than to deceive the character and the audience alike?”

I had a similar thought, so it wouldn’t shock me if this is it.

From what I’ve heard, and this is strictly in the ‘rumor’ category so treat it as such, there have been some additional negotiations which allow some material from the other sources to be used or mentioned to some degree. I know that the new compilation Second Age/Numenor book has a big Amazon's Rings of Power sticker…

The line “every village from here to Orodruin” is not one that should go unnoticed.

Hurin wasn’t so much ‘physically and emotionally scarred’ as straight-up cursed. Gwindor’s the person we see most as an example of somebody broken but not corrupted by his time in Angband; when Turin finds him he looks like an elderly man, and when they return to Menegroth, his former love Finduilas starts making eyes…

He’s discovered a new oar, mithril,

At this point the dude should lean in to the whole thing and start hawking a line of vibrating anal beads.

Is this even needed? I just open my dishwasher when it’s done, pull all the racks out and by the time everything is cool enough to touch, it’s dry. I call BS on this one and any perceived positive results are likely psychological. Even most of the comments on the TikTok say it doesn’t work.