Thalfon

Last time I bought audiobooks I got them from Downpour which included DRM-free downloads as either MP3 or M4B files, in addition to listening through the website or app. I believe Libro.fm may also offer this. Most of my ebooks are through Kobo and are DRM free as well.

Does depend in some cases on the publisher.

It varies within the genre. Some games try hard to take steps to minimize the ability to sit around and grind, such as by a food clock or lack of respawns. Sil, which is a *band game that tries to be closer to the original style has an XP system that grants XP for seeing an enemy the first time, and the same for killing it, and then 1/n times that XP the nth time you see that same kind of enemy thereafter. Sixth orc you see is worth 1/6 the XP, so it's not worth farming an area hard, and still rewards exploring a lot. It also eventually just forces you deeper as the desire for a silmaril becomes more irresistible as you become stronger. Seeing 6 orcs and killing 2 is worth 3.95x an orc's stated XP, seeing 30 and killing them all gets up to almost 8x the stated XP.

Others like most Angband variants or Tales of Maj'eyal made the decision to just let the player grind. Many of the games in that style have more open-ended progression and aren't necessarily trying to force the player into constantly dangerous situations. The very popular Caves of Qud would fit this category.

Currently in a sci fi "Consider Phlebas" by Iain Banks, after seeing a recommendation for his books involving an optimism for the future. This was the one book available at my local library. Not far enough in to make a judgment on it, but enjoying it so far.

I have Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez also out from the library as a next up.

Recently read Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood, which was a fun cozy urban fantasy. I think if I were to recommend such a book, I'd recommend The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches above it, or recommend Legends & Lattes or The Spellshop for cozy high fantasy choices, but if you've read all the popular ones and are looking for more it's a great choice.

The judge's other main role in a trial with jury is to actually run the proceedings of the trial. Order of operations, keeping the two counsels in line, scheduling, etc.

Crypt of the Necrodancer.

Really fun roguelike game where you and enemies have to move to the beat of that floor's song. I think part of the reason I still play it a lot is that it's amenable to very short sessions. I've played enough that runs go fast and I either clear or die within 10 minutes.

Over 1200 hours now almost a decade after release, and a huge chunk of that is probably sessions of under 30 mins in length.

I only played the original one. I had a fair amount of fun with it for what it was. It can feel a bit empty and wide, but the gameplay was quite fun, even if the combat is kinda painfully easy most of the time. You can build basically however you want and become pretty OP.

Is the remake worth looking at for those who played the original? I was kinda ignoring it because I'd played through it once already. Wasn't super sold on a second go-through.

I'm personally skipping because I already have what I'd want from this one, but I will say P4G is my favorite of the Persona series, and one of the few long JRPGs I've actually finished in the last several years. (P5R is also great, but 4's more grounded story and characters, relatively speaking, give it the edge for me.)

And Cassette Beasts is a truly great Pokemon-like that has so much going for it. If you feel out of love with the Pokemon franchise, or if you still enjoy it but would want more, this is a really fun game with its own take on a lot of the mechanics. Lots of depth combined with customizable difficulty.

It seems feasible if you don't imagine they're all big novels. A lot of nonfiction you might borrow several of in one visit and not read front to back. Think recipe books, handicrafts, anything along those lines. Could also be smaller things like children's books, poetry collections, etc., or some of the books were unusually expensive.

We already got to those ones.

This made me curious so I looked a bit into it. Seems that milquetoast as an insult originates from an old comic character of the same name, and it's at least feasible (and perhaps likely) that said character was named after milk toast.

It's a 14 book series. It's generally acclaimed for its world building and depth, but understood to be a bit of a slog in the middle. The original author, Robert Jordan, died while writing the 12th book, and Brandon Sanderson was chosen by Jordan's widow to finish the story using notes left by Jordan for his successor. I never finished it myself but I understand these final works were very well received, and Sanderson is a great author himself.

I think there's a couple reasons they do it this way.

One is that the pre-order bonus is still available despite the game effectively being out. I imagine they spare themselves some unwanted difficulty or dissatisfied responses from people who otherwise would have missed it.

The other is this very thread. Server issues are common on an expansion pack release. This gives them a convenient excuse to put in the apology announcement. It's a small thing but who knows, maybe it has some impact.

It's definitely a silly twisting of words (and their double key system for the pre-order and full purchase only sillier).