Sientir's Blog

The first Guild Chat this week is about some of the analysis I've been doing regarding the way combat works in Hyrule Warriors. While I'm overall enjoying the game, I can't help but find the controls get in the way sometimes, especially for certain characters. The second Guild Chat is about the challenge that Wizards of the Coast has when managing Magic: The Gathering, as the game is both a game and a collectible. These two things push the game in different directions, which is what this video is about. Direct video links: Analyzing Hyrule Warriors' Controls - https://youtu.be/54YNc46znHg Magic: The Gathering and the Tension Between Being a Game and a Collectible - https://youtu.be/yJfSD2xH_HA

This week saw me spend a lot of time exploring in an effort to find progress—and oh boy, do I! Well, narrative progress, at least. World progress mostly comes in small bits and pieces. Still I'm having fun and getting things set up for some much more significant progress next week! Direct video links: Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 26: Return to Crystal Peak - https://youtu.be/qPrIPsNjQh8 Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 27: The Dream Nail - https://youtu.be/x-z_mR73U2s Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 28: Xero - https://youtu.be/iWt5qlSnH2Y Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 29: Finding Dead Ends - https://youtu.be/T1r4kJ26uxs Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 30: Abducted by Spider Cultists - https://youtu.be/CKKmdUmX3uM

After Jesus was baptized by John, He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. There's a lot we can learn from these temptations with a close examination of them, which is the purpose of this episode! Join my Discord Server: https://discord.gg/s6ajzsg Support me at https://www.patreon.com/Sientir

This is a script to the Guild Chat video of the same name. It can be found here . Many Christian leaders present homosexuality as inherently evil. This results in many Christians treating homosexuals poorly. But what does the Bible actually say about homosexuality? Is it as clear-cut as these leaders present it? Or is it more complicated? In this lengthy video, I want to investigate these questions. Before I begin, a few things. First, I’m reading this from a script and I unfortunately don’t have the bandwidth to edit the audio. I’m probably going to make a few mistakes, so I just want to apologize in advance for any flubbed lines. Also, there will be a link to the script in the description, so if you’d rather read this (or if you want links to references), you can check it out there. Anyway, the first thing I need to do is start with some definitions so that we can all be on the same page. I want to start by defining “homosexual.” This might seem strange, but it’s necessary because it...

The first Guild Chat this week examines how my personality affects how I approach my faith. The second Guild Chat is on a topic that's been a long time coming. I've posted the script for it, which can be found here: https://www.geekdomofgod.com/2019/03/guild-chat-script-homosexuality-and.html Direct video links: On Being a Sultai Christian - https://youtu.be/K4WDI4cvBi4 Homosexuality and the Bible: An In Depth Examination - https://youtu.be/MBTJ8oub92Q

Guild Wars 1 Skill Review Project Overview Post - Warrior Overview Post "Fear Me!" is a Tactics Warrior skill that costs 4 Adrenaline and has a 6 second recharge. As a shout, it has no activation time. Its description is as follows: Shout. All nearby foes lose 1...3...4 Energy. For 1...12...15 second[s], your melee attacks gain +5...25...30% chance of a critical hit against stationary foes. Rating: 4/5 This rating might seem oddly high, and to some extent it is. However, "Fear Me!" gets this rating by being a generically useful Tactics skill. In general, if I have a melee attacker using Tactics, this particular skill ends up on their skill bar. So while I rarely go into Tactics for this skill (usually only if I'm trying to make an Energy denial build), if I'm already there, I'll often bring it. This is for a few reasons. The first is that energy pressure like this is very useful. It is easy to underestimate, but in very intense combat situatio...

This week saw me finally making my way back to the Mantis Village, where I find the Mantis Lords, which is an excellent boss fight. This leads me into the Deepnest, a new area! I also return to old areas to find new things. Direct video links: Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 21: Return to Mantis Village - https://youtu.be/lmzB4-_gm38 Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 22: The Mantis Lords - https://youtu.be/oCSDfkXLPDc Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 23: Into the Deepnest - https://youtu.be/WyoWIr2Ew88 Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 24: Spiders! - https://youtu.be/De3zvU5RDOk Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 25: Glowing Womb - https://youtu.be/k-5UHrUpeVE

This is the script for Geekdom of God Episode 38, The Dangers of Cultural Christianity . The video of this episode can be found here . ——————————————————————————————— Matthew 7:21-23—“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Hello! Welcome to Geekdom of God. I’m your host, Sientir, and today I’m going to talk about the dangers of cultural Christianity. I should start by defining what I mean by the phrase “cultural Christianity.” Cultural Christianity is a form of Christianity that is typically based on cultural values and traditions rather than on what the Bible actually says. While cultural Christianity does use the Bible, it generally does so primarily ...

Guild Wars 1 Skill Review Project Overview Post - Warrior Overview Post "Coward!" is a Warrior skill with no associated attribute. It costs 4 Adrenaline to activate and has a 2 second recharge. As it is a shout, it has no activation time. Its description is as follows: Elite Shout. If target foe is moving, that foe is knocked down. Rating: 3/5 This is one of those skills that seems pretty decent on the surface, but turns out to be kind of awkward to use. It's mostly useful for using the knockdown to snare foes you are actively chasing with a melee attack, though I could see it being used to also disrupt someone pursuing one of your casters. All of this means that it's a fine, but not a particularly exciting, skill. You shouldn't bring it expecting to be able to combo with the knockdown, since the fact that the target has to be moving for it to actually knock them down means that it is usually very difficult to capitalize on that knockdown. It definitely...

Guild Wars 1 Skill Review Project Overview Post - Warrior Overview Post "Charge!"  is a Tactics Warrior skill that costs 5 energy to activate and has a 20 second recharge. As a shout, it has no activation time. Its description is as follows: Elite Shout. Allies in earshot lose the Crippled condition. For 5...11...13 seconds, these allies move 33% faster. Rating: 4/5 This rating is somewhat generous. From a pure combat standpoint, it definitely doesn't deserve it. However, I like having "Charge!" available on two members of my party for the purposes of moving more quickly across maps outside of combat. It's purely based on this usefulness that I've given it this rating; otherwise it would probably be a 3/5. It does have competition for this out-of-combat purpose with "Fall Back!" . The fact that the Paragon skill isn't an elite wins it points over "Charge!", but the fact that you need 3 instances (rather than the 2 of ...

In this episode, I discuss the dangers of cultural Christianity, as well as what that is. To do this requires me to also discuss legalism in depth and the way that people use religion as a moral security blanket. You can read all of Galatians 2:11-21 here:  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+2%3A11-21&version=NIV Join my Discord Server: https://discord.gg/s6ajzsg Support me at https://www.patreon.com/Sientir

This is a profession overview post that's part of my Guild Wars 1 skill review. For a general overview, you can check out this post . All of the currently reviewed Warrior skills can be found under the GW1SRP Warrior tag. About the Warrior Armor Stats: Base 80 armor. Inbuilt +20 additional armor against physical damage. No bonuses to maximum energy or energy regeneration! Armor mods can grant additional armor against elemental damage, increase knockdown duration by 1 second, and reduce physical damage taken by subtract amounts (rather than multiplicative). Weapons associated with attributes: Swords (one-handed) Axes (one-handed) Hammers (two-handed) Shield (off-hand, grants up to 16 additional armor) Warriors are highly durable, especially when using a one-handed weapon and a shield. They are also fairly versatile. However, they have overall poor access to energy given a reduced pool, low energy regeneration rate (only the standard 2 pips), and no inbuilt en...

In the first Guild Chat this week, I talk about assumptions I had in childhood about how the world works that have been frustratingly corrected by reality. In the second one, I talk about what I think is fair to tax and why I think that way. Direct video links: Assumptions Wrecked By Reality - https://youtu.be/imqNRsxJUvE Meta Thoughts About Taxation - https://youtu.be/ZyV7fvoC_kI

This week on Hollow Knight, I spent a lot of time exploring and finding lost little corners of the world. This results in me finding a bunch of upgrades! Direct video links: Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 16: Crystal Map - https://youtu.be/m2I_pKwUd9k Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 17: The Nailmaster - https://youtu.be/h3_wmHStYgE Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 18: Launching Puzzle - https://youtu.be/UL4owD_0yRg Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 19: The Mound - https://youtu.be/-yX4RBPHSrs Let's Play Hollow Knight Ep. 20: Upgrades! - https://youtu.be/TJZU0xyeehQ

This post serves as an overview and reference for a rather large project I'm undertaking: Reviewing and rating all player-usable skills in Guild Wars 1. I'm undertaking this project for two major reasons. The first is that I believe there is a lot to learn about game design from this sort of review. The second is that I want to make a program to generate randomized pools of skills, and for that, I need ratings in order to have the program work the way I want. Edit: As this became quite the challenge to actually undertake in post form, I've made it into a YouTube series instead. You can find the playlist here . Rating Rubric Skills will be rated 1 to 5 points, as outlined below. Note that these ratings are based on my subjective experiences, and are focused on the PvE experience! I might bring up PvP every now and then, but it won't factor into the ratings I give. I also will not be reviewing the PvP-only versions of skills. (Some skills have a PvE version and Pv...