So, like 18 months before this gets added to the Google graveyard?

I got in early on the Analogue Pocket preorders and it's been very nice, especially once they opened it up to third party cores.

There’s also a Genesis one which is very different in play style. I remember it being a lot more open but requiring you to lead yourself a lot more. I prefer SNES but they’re probably both worth a look.

Also the Yahama sound chip in a Cyberpunk game was a great match.

It would depend on the type of illusion for me, but yeah Glamour could absolutely be a trait that someone could specialize in.

I agree that the schools always felt a little arbitrary. Abjuration in particular always felt kinda weak to me, even in concept.

I think they could probably just leave it to a potentially open-ended set of traits. Some could even have multiple, which helps with the arbitrariness. Characters could specialize in spells that have particular traits.

I agree with this. It looks really good, but it was weirdly huge.

I guess you can blame it being a platform for experimentation. They wanted it to be able to produce the stuff they'd need even away from stations? Still feels weird though.

The Excelsior was definitely a good-looking ship. VI remains my favorite of the movies. (Slightly controversial, I know.)

Spell schools were invented for Dragonlance in the lead up to the 2e era. The idea of an Illusionist is probably demonstrable enough outside of D&D, but the rest are pure TSR lore.

I'm at about 120 hours, haven't completed yet, although I probably could at any time starting around 80 hours. I've been filling out lightroots and shrines and doing other random side stuff I stumble across.

How do you see completion percentage?

Honestly, I found all the light roots even before I think I had even half the shrines. It was sort of my favorite part of the game for a bit. Just hop on an airbike and roam around looking for light, and stopping to look at interesting stuff I found on the way.

On the other hand, finding shrines tends to be either much, much easier (just look around after launching from a sky rower) or annoyingly harder (hidden in a cave). I guess that's why I'm only just now finishing them. At this point, I'm just using an online map to help me do the last ones.

It can vary. At its best, it's a good way to share knowledge.

But even when it's useful, I find it incredibly draining. I can probably only do it for a few hours before I just stop being able to manage it.

"Performance Improvement Plan", It's a process for when an employee is believed to not be meeting expectations.

Depending on where you're at, it may actually be intended as a way to help you improve, or it may be the first step in being able to fire you without fear of being sued for wrongful termination. Lengthy documentation of underperformance is usually seen as the best defense in that sort of thing. I think a lot of people assume it's the latter.

Personally, I think that if a person can genuinely understand their underperformance, it could well be a genuine attempt at improvement. If only as a way to push someone to buckle down for fear of losing their job.

I've had friends who got put on PIPs in situations where they felt they were put onto tasks or projects which would have been difficult for anyone to accomplish with the resources they were given. In a few cases, it seems to come from the same few shitty managers.

In either case, it's probably not a bad idea to start mentally preparing yourself to move on.