Hello everyone. I recently platinummed the PSVITA version of Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time as my 28th platinum. It only took me 10 years, 4 weeks, 22 hours to do it. Did you know this game hides its true ending behind the platinum?
Anyway, I'd like to talk about the experience.
Sly 4 was a bit confusing and inconsistent to platinum. I get the feeling the game wants you to platinum it given how on every loading screen it shows you how much you've completed the trophies and collectibles for the game. And that there no missable trophies. But there are some decisions that don't help with that.
So I'd say there are around 3 groups of Trophies in this game.
The first group are the mandatory story trophies. Not much to say about these. There's nothing missable here and the names are quite cool. I do like looking at the percent completion to see how many players completed the PS VITA version of the game. Did you know that around 73% of players booted this game up and completed the prologue? And only around 25% of players even beat the game. The biggest drop happened around the start of Episode 2 since the completion dropped from around 60%to 48% for some reason.
The second group are the trophies for the collectibles and arcades. I'll talk about these later.
The third and final group of trophies are for miscellaneous challenges. I'll start with these first and highlight some of the notable ones that I missed on my first playthrough.
"Crazed Climber - Scale the dragon lair in under 90 seconds". This was one I missed during my original playthrough of the game. This requires you to climb a giant tower filled with traps in the mission "Mechanical Menace". And this one was really fun even though it took me like 3 attempts. Sly 4's movement and platforming is quite fun so having a mini speedrun challenge using Sir Galleth's moveset was a treat. The one criticism I have here is that the game drops a checkpoint as soon as you get to the top. If you haven't gotten the trophy by then and need to retry, you need to quit to the main menu/hideout and reselect the mission, skip through all the cutscenes and get back there which gets annoying. At least the tower is near the start of the mission.
"Ancient Warfare 3 - Crackshot 10 enemies within 65 seconds. Sly's ancestor, Tennessee "Kid" Cooper" has an ability similar to "Dead Eye" from Red Dead Redemption where he can slow down time, mark enemies and objects and then instantly shoot them dead called "Crackshot". I never got this trophy when I first played the game because there wasn't much opportunity to. There aren't large groups of enemies wandering around that you can casually get 10+ of them line up for you to shoot them. Plus, I was already good at shooting them normally. I tried running around in the open world trying to lure enemies but found it wasn't working. There's a mission in the game called "Blind Date" that throws lots of rabbit enemies that chuck TNT at you that worked better for me.
"Hubba Hubba - Don't miss a beat in the Carmelita dance game." This trophy is, without a doubt, the main reason to platinum this game on VITA instead of the PS3. So nobody can see you play this dumb minigame and call you a Furry. This trophy requires you to complete the minigame where Carmilita needs to disguise herself as a belly dancer and dance to distract guards while the Cooper gang try and open a door. You just need to hit the button prompts perfectly. So you can ignore the times the minigame asks you to shake the VITA from side to side like a champagne bottle to make Carmilita shake her ass (seriously, why does this game sexualize Carmilita so much? None of the past Sly games did it).
"Get To the Chopper - Don't take any damage during Up In Smoke." This one was actually fun. In the mission "Up in Smoke", you have to control an RC Helicopter and drop bombs on turrents while drones and mines chase you down. It was fun dodging and weaving through them. There are 3 phases to this mission and you have a checkpoint in between every phase. So if you mess up, you can just restart the checkpoint to the last phase. You don't need to avoid taking damage the whole way through which is nice.
"Unexpected Package - Place 60 bombs in enemy pockets with Bentley." When I first saw this trophy, I groaned. This would be a massive grind. And I had actually made it harder on myself. You see, normally, when you sneak up behind an enemy as Bentley and hold triangle, Bentley will try to put a bomb in the enemy's pocket. Larger enemies won't notice this but smaller enemies will. But the main issue is that I had previously unlocked the Heat Seeking upgrade for Bentley. Meaning sometimes, the bombs would "miss" and stick to an enemy guard's arms or legs instead. So it was annoying going around the hub world and planting bombs on guards.....until I remembered that I had purchased the upgrade for sleep bombs. My plan now was just to find a lone guard on a rooftop, try and place one sleep bomb into his back pocket and detonate it. He'd then fall asleep. Then I'd go to his sleeping body and try placing 5 sleeping bombs in his pocket and back away (the max you can place at any one time). When he wakes him, I'd detonate all 5 which set him to sleep and then repeat. Even if I'd "miss" a few bombs that would stick to their legs instead, I generally 3 or 4 bombs work perfectly. So it didn't take long to get all 60.
"Apollo Wins - Have the perfect workout during the Training Montage." During the mission "Getting Stronger", you have to do a training montage with Bob where you alternate through 6 minigames as you complete them with the minigames getting harder as you complete them. The trophy requires you to complete 10 randomly selected minigames without making a single mistake. If you mess up, you can restart the checkpoint to the beginning of the montage and have to play through a new set of 10 randomly selected minigames. The Minigames are "Slippery Slope" where you balance an egg on a beam using motion controls while penguins jump around on the floating iceberg you are standing on. "Penguin Popper" where Penguins are diving in front of you and you have to play baseball using them. "Sumo Slap" where you have to perform QTEs to push a giant penguin out of a Sumo Ring. "Duck and Cover" where penguins get launched at you from 4 different directions and you have to move the left stick to dodge them. "Super Sling" which requires you to use a catapult to launch a penguin at a flying pterodactyl. And "Whack a chump" which is Whack a Mole but with penguins. Some of which are fake and you should avoid.
Penguin Popper was easy. Once you get the timing down it's easy to get into a rhythm and hit the penguins since they don't vary when they dive. Whenever this popped into the rotation, I considered it a freebie. Sumo Slap was extremly easy. The button mashing was extremely generous. This was another freebie. Duck and Cover requires a bit more focus because of the timing and inconsistent patterns. It's not too challenging. Interestingly, I noticed that the VITA's speakers would reflect if the penguin was coming from the right or left but not above or below you. I guess headphones would make this easier but I had no need for it. I was generally glad when this popped up in the rotation. Whack a Chump was a bit harder than Penguin Popper because there is no set pattern and the additional challenge of not hitting the fake penguins. But it wasn't too bad. I was glad when this popped up in the rotation.
Super Sling and Slippery Slope were the 2 I dreaded and the ones I messed up the most on. Super Sling doesn't give you much indication of where your sling will go. The Pterodactyls have varied speeds so you can't rely on pattern recolonization and reactions. And there's time pressure as taking too long counts as a miss. And it kept popping up in the rotations for some reason!
Slippery Slope was stressful because of the motion controls and how wild later versions of it were.
"The Cooper Open - Have a 20 hit rally with Bentley in each hideout." There are 6 hideouts in the game. In each hideout there is a table tennis table where you as Sly can play a round of table tennis with Bentley. I question the inclusion of it but I suppose it can be a nice distraction. This trophy requires you get a sequences where both you and Bentley hit the ball back and forth 10 times each (or 20 times overall) without missing. And repeat for each of the 6 tables. I found Bentley kept messing up so I had to intentionally hold back and avoid making good shots and try and hit the ball towards him. The main issue is the fact you have to repeat it 6 times. I feel it would be better off just once and as nothing is really added by doing it 6 times. If anything, it's more annoying given the long load times to switch hideouts and Bentley's random AI.
"Hassan Would Be Proud - Pickpocket a full collection of every item in the game." Each of the 6 or so locations have around 3-4 items that can be pickpocketted from guards. The main issue with this trophy is that it doesn't keep track of which items you have already pickpocketed in any way. The game already tracks how many treasures and masks you've found per general area but not pickpocketted items.
I only got this trophy by planning on systematically going through every location in the game and pickpocketting every enemy item and noting down which ones I found.....only to get it in the first level when I used Murray's shake move on some rat enemies. Enemies that you never encounter or have a reason or opportunity to naturally pickpocket. I guess 2013 me had already gotten 99% of these items previously.
"Navigate Like Drake - Take a look at every map in every episode". I found this trophy really annoying. The way it works is that every location in the game, including linear interiors that are exclusive to missions and even the hideouts, have a map you can look at by pressing SELECT. The game doesn't keep track of which locations you've seen the map of. So I had to systamatically play the game from the first mission and press SELECT whenever I entered a new interior. Then quit out and play the next mission and repeat. It popped for me in Episode 4 so somehow, 2013 me had looked at all the maps in Episode 5 without realizing it.
I don't like this trophy. It doesn't really add anything. The player would already be looking at the maps in the hub worlds where they would be at their most useful since those are open world sections. They have no real reason to use the map in linear interiors. And even less useful in hideouts as these aren't even explorable. They are basically just menus that happen to have a 3D background. I'd be more forgiving of this trophy if the map showed collectibles at least. That way, players have more of a reason to use this feature.
Shout out to the Lazy Trunk Spa & Lounge. A secret area in the game that contains a mask collectible and counts for the trophy with a unique map. No mission ever goes here. So even if you were to play diligently and open the map for every area you encounter, you'd still miss this. I only knew this existed because the trophy guide I looked at told me about it so I decided to tag this area while doing the "Get to the Chopper" trophy.
"Hero Tech - Battle with a secret weapon" Once you collect 50 Sly masks. You unlock Ratchet's wrench from Ratchet and Clank. This weapon even turns the coins you collect into bolts. Collecting 60 Masks unlocks Cole's Amp from inFAMOUS. This can electrocute the enemies you hit. I chose to use Cole's Amp to get the trophy as a tribute to inFAMOUS. Killed by Ghost of Tsumia 😭. May it rest in peace. Gone too soon.
That covers all the miscellaneous trophies. Now for the collectibles and arcades.
Sly 4 has a bunch of different collectibles scattered in each of its 6 episodes.
Bottles: Each hub world contains 30 bottles. Collecting all of them gives you access to unlock a safe hidden somewhere in the hub world. Unlocking that safe rewards you a special treasure. Bottles make a "clinking" sound when you're near them so if you're having a hard time finding them, try going into the game's settings and turning down the music and voice sounds. If you find the safe in Episode 3, the special treasure it gives you will highlight bottles and safes in every other episode on your map which is quite nice. I wish the game did this more often. If it hides collectibles from the player, at least give the player an endgame ability to highlight them. It makes it more feasible and fun to complete these tasks instead of combing every last inch (or looking up a guide).
Treasures: Each hub world has around 11 treasures scattered all around. The gimmick here is that in order to collect them, you first need to find where they are in the hub world. Then once you pick them, you need to race back to your hideout under a certain time limit and without taking any damage. If you mess up, you need to repeat the process. The treasures generally require you to have all of Sly's costumes. And a couple require you to be playing as Sir Galleth because England has increased gravity for some reason. Some of these treasures are really well hidden. Requiring you to go to these holes in the middle of nowhere which then require you to switch between some of Sly's costumes. Like, if you open the map when picking some of these up, you'll find Sly is located beyond the borders of the area.
I found it way more fun to race back to the hideout than actually finding them. It was tedious to find many of them because of how well hidden they are. There is no tool or item in the game that can help mark them on your map. Well, I say that. Supposedly, if you have both the PS3 and VITA versions of the game and play them at the same time, you can use the VITA like a scannebinoculars to locate these treasures. And then use the Cross Save feature to nab them in both versions. I only have the VITA version so no luck for me. Again, I'd argue it would be better if there was an endgame upgrade or tool you could get that would mark the treasures like how the game does it for bottles. There isn't even a "clinking sound" or any help for these.
Anyway, collecting all the treasures for an episode unlocks the arcade machine minigame for that episode.
Also sidenote, but this game has the worst map screen that still somehow can be useful. The map gives a top down view of the area but with a blue filter. This makes it harder and more annoying to navigate and use landmarks for reference. Especially on the VITA with its smaller screen. There are also no icons on the map (aside from bottles, safes and objectives) or the ability to make your own markers. The VITA version makes it worse as you can't even use the buttons to navigate the map. You have to use the touchscreen even though that's not how it is in the PS3 version. But you can still use it to know where you are and where collectibles can be from guides. It's technically readable and useful but just barely. I've never seen a map in a game so perfectly walk the line between useful and annoying.
The next collectible are Sly Masks. There are 60 total and around 11 per Episode. Collecting them unlocks skins and some goodies. But the catch with them is that they can be anywhere. There can be a couple in the hub world. But also couple during select missions and even some in the arcade minigames. There's no way to know where any of them are. They generally tend to be really well hidden even if you are trying to scour every area.
Again, I wish there was a way to highlight them. The game's long load times make it a chore to switch episodes or missions so it's tedious to try searching for them manually.
Now it's time to talk about the arcades. Sly 4 has 3 arcade minigames that are used in both the main missions and have a harder version in the arcades in hideouts. The arcade versions of these minigames are harder, go on for much longer and can have secret paths that lead to portals that reward you with points and some of them even have Sly masks. You need to beat the high scores to get the trophies
The first minigame is "Alter Ego". This has you play this 2D auto scrolling twin stick shooter minigame where you must avoid enemies and collect these "ionic bits". Collecting 5 yellow bits levels you up so your weapons get more powerful. At level 10 you have shoot crazy fast, can launch missiles and have floating drones that can damage enemies around you. But whenever you take damage, you drop an entire level. And you get left behind as the level autoscrolls, you respawn at level 0. You can also collect blue bits which can give you a grenade explosion around you.
Personally, I don't really like this minigame. It's fine when playing casually as a change of pace but grinding the high score isn't great. Since it is an autoscroller it is entirely possible you don't have enough points to match the high score and you won't know until its too late, wasting your time. I also found the hitboxes a bit too small. Making items more annoying to pickup.
The key to success is finding the right balance between collecting yellow bits as they give points and level you up (and how high your level is acts as a multiplier for your score) and killing enemies since they give more points. As well as avoiding taking damage and maintaining level 10 as much as possible and knowing where the secret paths are so you can get more points as well as level up if you have messed up.
The second minigame is "System Cracker". Here, you guide a little space ship looking thing through 2D levels in top down twin stick shooting sections. This isn't an autoscroller. You need to explore levels looking for keys and shooting enemies. There are 3 ships you can switch between by going onto specific coloured pads and each ship has its pros and cons. The green ship you start with does decent damage and has decent health and can carry keys. So it's a jack of all trades master of none kinda ship. The pink ship literally resembles a tank. It fires slower and at a shorter range but does more damage and has more health. It's also necessary for destroying pink crystals to progress. The blue ship has floatier handling and faster speeds. Its shots also bounce off walls and it can draw a line which can activate switches and damage enemies. It is weaker than the green ship though.
I actually really enjoyed this minigame and was happy whenever it comes up. It even feels the most fleshed out of the 3. Like, I feel it could even be released as a small standalone game with some tweaking and expansion. I'd probably play a mobile version of this in my free time.
I like how varied the levels can be. You can have a lot of different threats and mini-puzzles and even scenarios where you have to keep switching between ships on the fly to damage enemies. Like, there's this one enemy that's made up of orange, blue and pink hexagons that require you to switch between all 3 ships and use their abilities to damage it. It's quite fun. Damage one ship takes is "saved" on that ship. So if you take 50% damage with the green ship and switch to the pink one, the pink one will have 100% health. But whenever you switch back to the green one, you will be back at 50% health. So mistakes have consequences requiring you to make decisions accounting for them without being too overbearing.
Beating the high scores for the associated arcades is very easy. For one, there is no time limit or pressure so you’re free to take your time and play carefully. On top of that, the mode is very generous with points. Whereas Alter Ego only gives you points for killing enemies and picking up bits (and you need to get and maintain a multiplier for decent times), System Cracker gives you points even for shooting obstacles and barricades in your way. In Alter Ego, I was scraping for points until the very end. In System Cracker, I had more than enough points by the halfway mark.
I suppose the game could have balanced this by increasing the points threshold and rewarding extra points for taking less time to complete sections but I’m not complaining.
The third and worst minigame is “Spark Chaser”. Here you must guide a little electric ball across these maze like areas with gaps that end your attempt if you fall down them and these pinball like bounce pads that bounce you really far. There’s also a time pressure. You have around 20 seconds to get as far as possible with more time added as you pick up these purple clock icons.
The biggest issue is that it’s entirely controlled by motion controls. And this makes me experience worse on VITA. Seriously, I very nearly quit playing. This post was almost titled “I gave up trying to Platinum Sly 4”.
With the PS3 version, at least titling the remote doesn’t also affect your view of the screen. You can look at the game and play it the same as you normally would. But in the VITA version, the “neutral” position where no input is registered by the system is placing the VITA flat with its screen facing up. The standard “screen facing you” position registers as down.
The end result is a frustrating experience. This minigame requires really fine precision given how easy it is to fall off and the time pressure requires you both be fast and more precise to collect time pickups. On top of that, your view is constantly being messed with due to how much you need to tilt the system from odd angles. Especially how tilting “up” really makes it hard to see. Oh, and the dialogue from Bentley as you bounce gets really annoying and repetitive.
It’s barely tolerable in regular missions since those don’t require as much precision or speed. And even then, the usage there in 2013 was suspect to begin with. I only completed this because there’s a cheese where if you can get enough time early on, you can then keep bouncing on certain pads which give around 20 points per bounce. When I played “normally”, I’d get around 300 points with the high score being 1000 points. Using the cheese, I averaged around 990 points and managed to get lucky to win with 1010 points.
Tangent Time:
I’ve said it before. Motion controls work best when they complement existing controls in an optional way or in more restrained ways. I love it when games have gyro aiming since that can help compensate when aiming with sticks with small fine corrections. It works here because the sticks do most of the work and the gyro sensors work where they are best suited.
Or in many mobile racing games, steering is often done by tilting your phone. I enjoy this because there is only one axis you need to tilt your phone, the screen often rotates in conjunction so your view is preserved and it’s more intuitive to feel the “range” of rotation and how it corresponds to steering.
Hell, even ignoring these approaches, motion can still be used in worthwhile ways. Such as by mapping an extra action that is infrequent if all other buttons are occupied. The Mario games on Wii map a “spin” when you jump and shake the remotes giving Mario a bit of grace allowing him to make slightly further jumps or correct a bad jump. Call of Duty MW1 on Wii allowed you to assign certain commands to custom motions of the controller and nunchuck. So you could map stuff like jumping, moving and shooting to buttons but map reloading to smacking the nunchuck to the Wii Mote or plunge the Wii Mote forward to do a melee attack or tilting the Wii Mote to bring out a grenade or alt fire.
Even Resistance 1: Fall of Man had a neat idea. You could quickly tilt the controller left to bring up the Scoreboard screen without needing to take your thumbs off the sticks or stop moving. The Soulsbourne games allow you to quickly do emotes without needing a menu by holding the interact button and quickly tilting the controller in certain directions.
I bring all this up to highlight how Sly 4’s use of motion controls are a failure on every level. They’re mostly used in place of minigames as the sole method of control. So all the issues of motion controls (such as the lack of broad control and feedback) are front and centre. The only place where the motion controls are understandable is when firing arrows as you can then control the arrow after it’s fired using both the sticks and gyro aiming. But even then, the lack of any ability to tune the gyro sensitivity or even invert the controls hampers any use it could have had.
I don’t mind the idea of Sly 4 having decent motion controls. There are places where I can see it being beneficial. In addition to shooting and guiding arrows, I can see it being useful when you have to use the binoculars. Especially as Bentley as you need to shoot darts precisely.
Or, here’s a gimmicky one: you can bind certain costumes or tools to also be selected by quickly tilting the system. Even though using the D-pad for a quick select would be faster, it would still be a better use of motion controls for Sly 4 than most of what’s currently there.
End Tangent.
Back to getting all the trophies, the final arcade machine, unlocked only when you’ve gotten all the treasures in every other episode, is very easy. It has “3 rooms”, one featuring every minigame thus far. But the high score requirements are really low and rooms aren’t as tough as prior versions. You can easily get the high score in the first area which is the Alter Ego one. Even if you miss it there, the second area is Spark Runner but you can keep reloading the checkpoint to preserve your score. So you can get some time clocks, reload a checkpoint when you’re close to running out of time or about to fall off and repeat until you get the high score.
You do need to get past the Spark Runner section to the 3rd and final section that uses System Cracker's gameplay in order to get a hidden Sly Mask, but it's far easier than the dedicated Spark Runner arcade minigame as the section is shorter, is more generous with Time Pickups, has easier level design and lets you reload a checkpoint if you're about to fail which doesn't end the run.
So yeah, Sly 4 Thieves in Time was....inconsistent game to platinum. I enjoyed the base gameplay, System Cracker, the various challenge trophies and the mini speedruns for collecting treasures. I didn't enjoy finding the collectibles and doing some of the other minigames. I hated Spark Runner.
If the game had more ways of tracking collectibles, fewer minigames and better load times, I'd gladly recommend it as a fun game to platinum.
As for the base game itself, I am mixed on it. The gameplay is arguably the best in the series. Sly's movement and costumes are so fun to play around with. Murray, Bentely and Sly's ancestors are also fun changes of pace during missions.
The story is lacking. My main issue is that it doesn't feel like it realizes its following up Sly 3. The story so casually undoes the ending of Sly 3 to get Sly 4's story going. I get it, that's what a sequel has to do. But the way it does it really undermines Sly 3. It's also much more lighthearted and doesn't have as much of a theme or focal point as its predecessors. Sly 1-3 explored the theme of legacy and the consequences of adhering to it so tightly. A major aspect of Sly 3 was Sly realizing the Cooper Vault wasn't worth dying for. It's what prompts him to fake his amnesia and retire with Carmilita in the end. So for Sly 4 to then have Sly have an itch to steal just for the fun of it, it's sending mixed messages here.
In addition, Sly is really casual about the fact Carmilita now knows about his betrayal and has broken up with him. Seems like that should have been a bigger deal. In fact, that kind of "casual-ness" persists throughout the story. Sly doesn't really have much of an arc or any real heartfelt moments with his ancestors. Nor do they seem to really care their decedent from the future is here with them.
If I could have tweaked the story to address these points, here's what I would have done:
I'd have the story open with Sly, Bentley and Murray enjoying their "retirement" and have no plans of thieving. I'd go so far as to have Sly even scoff at the idea of him ever wanting to be a thief. Then when the pages of the Thievus Racconus are dissapearing, Sly, Bentley and Murray have to reluctantly unretire to try stopping them. There would be dialogue during the opening mission of Sly being worried if they get caught as it would undo their happy ending. And then when Carmilita catches Sly, Sly at first is flustered and tries to explain the situation to Carmilita who isn't having any of Sly's BS. Sly is forcibly extracted by the gang and then they time travel. As they are time travelling. Sly is upset that, in order to go literally defend the Cooper Legacy, he has to give up his happy relationship and can't be repaired now. That even if they fix the problem, they'll be on the run forever now. Murray had to give up his professional career as well.
Already, I feel this introduction has a few things going for it. It respects the ending of Sly 3 and keeps the characters in more character, as well as putting more heat on Le Paradox. Sly 4 had to rip away the happy ending that was Sly 3. The characters know that and aren't happy about it. There is immediate consequences. And that heat can be directed at Le Paradox when he comes later.
I'd also like if all of the ancestors Sly met had different reactions to both him and the Cooper legacy and how it affects Sly's arc.
For example, lets say when he meets Riochi Cooper, Ricohi is initially disappointed in Sly as the future Cooper decendent as Sly doesn't act honourably or respect the legacy or something like this. Something that makes Sly start to question if it's even worth defending the Cooper Legacy. Bentely is the voice of reason here and mediator that gets the gang to work as well as they can.
Then when Sly meets Tennessee Cooper, Sly is initially expecting another traditionalist ancestor that cares a lot about the Cooper Legacy. But Tennessee is kinda the opposite of Riochi in that Tennasee doesn't care about the legacy in the same way. He adds his own spin and contributions but also uses the knowledge from it to do his own thing. Perhaps Tennessee is this Robin-Hood esque figure who uses his heisting skills to steal from the corrupt ruling class and give to the lower class. The point being that through Tennessee, Sly considers another aspect of the Cooper Legacy on how he's not that beholden to it and can potentially make it his own.
Then when Sly meets Bob, part of Bob's training is also from Sly as Sly teaches him some of the Cooper moves he knows. Since Bob is the first Cooper ancestor, he has no bias towards the legacy or any knowledge. So he's far more grateful and begins to use his new skills in helpful ways. Causing Sly to wonder if he could use the Cooper Legacy in more ways.
It's a similar situation for Sir Galleth. And for Selim, perhaps by that point, Sly has a newfound outlook and appreciation for the Cooper Legacy and ways on how he can improve it or make it his own that he encourages Selim not to retire or to retire in such a way where he could help people or something like that.
So yeah, there's this theme now of "Don't let the past define you now. You can make it your own and grow past its flaws". Which I feel would give Sly 4 more of a punch. I am basically copying Metal Gear Solid 4 and Assassin's Creed though.
I also feel it would be better if Penelope wasn't the villain of episode 4. It seems to contradict her character from past games and the explanation given for her heel turn doesn't really hold water. I feel the story would be better if Penelope had the role Dmitri has where she's their help in the present and the Knight was a new character. But if you need to have Penelope as the antagonist, have her be under mind control or something. That way the team has the conflict of how will they stop the plan without hurting their friend. But if you really insist on Penelope being a full on antagonist now by her own choice, perhaps flesh out her motivations more? Maybe something like "she sees how Bentley will never reach his full potential as the Bill Gates of the world because of his criminal past that requires him to lay low and not take public credit for his inventions. So she's trying to erase the Coopers so Bentley will have never met Sly". That would at least be more than "I want money".
Everything else, I feel works more or less.
I will note that the cliffhanger ending was a weird choice given that this game wasn't projected to sell well and kinda pigenholes any story Sly 5 would be going for. Plus, it being locked behind the platinum trophy means only a small portion of the few players that played Sly 4 would even know about it.
So yeah, that's my take on platinumming Sly 4: Thieves in Time. What do y'all think?
Next up for me is platinumming every Spider-Man game on PS VITA. See you then.

Hi everyone,
A few of us in Lincoln County are planning a little event on June 17th for pride month. It’ll be at foster park in Stroud and everyone’s welcome to come.
It’s not going to be like Tulsa or OKC events, we’re tiny comparatively - but it’s the first one for our town and county (to my knowledge) and we’re hoping to make it a yearly thing moving forward with this year kicking it off.
Here’s an event and group where we’re spreading details:
https://facebook.com/events/s/stroud-pride-event/1231224064205878/
Not sure if this would be considered news but didn’t know what other flair it would fit.

I’m a junior looking for a place for the school year! At least fall 2023-spring 2024.
I’m open to any places with 1,2,3, or 4 spots. $800 a month maximum, less is better ofc. I prefer close to green st/county market but I’m flexible!!
Comment or message me with any questions.

As M-Cell finishes searching Dr. Barbas' home, they find the possible source for the nefarious King in Yellow books and they discover evidence of another Delta Green team in Boston.

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Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWRpYS5yc3MuY29tL2dyZWVuLWJveC1nYW1pbmcvZmVlZC54bWw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiQ35mv07v8AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQFA&hl=en

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Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes Arc Dream Publishing
delta-green.com/
arcdream.com/home/
Music by:
Cryo Chamber cryochamber.bandcamp.com/
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio karlcasey.bandcamp.com/
Monasterium Imperi monasteriumimperi.bandcamp.com/
CO.AG Music patreon.com/user?ty=h&u=3550597
Free Sounds Libray freesoundslibrary.com

Hello and welcome to the 23rd installment of The Great Spice Off! What is The Great Spice Off?
I love the scent of Old Spice, so much so that it's the only aftershave I use as I don't really feel a need to splash anything else on. But, as we all know, Old Spice no longer makes shaving soap. They do still make a cream but that's hardly a great soap and it doesn't actually smell like Old Spice. As such my plan is to test out all the Old Spice options that are out there on as many bases as possible both to try out a variety of bases from different soapmakers and to report back to you on who really nails the scent.
I'll be shaving three times with each soap, using a variety of brushes and razors, and blades. Yes, I know that means it won't be exactly scientific but this is going to take a while and I want to use all my other shit too. Soaps will be rated on a few factors and given points from 1-5 for each.

• Oldness: How much does the soap smell like OG Old Spice. This is the more analytical scent analysis and I'm comparing to an OG Old Spice aftershave I have and the Shulton aftershave from India.
• Spiciness: This is the je ne sais quois of Old Spice. Does the soap make me feel the nostalgia, warmth, and whatever it is about the scent that works. Is there something special about it that makes it stand out? Does it invoke a memory or make a new one? The most subjective of this list.
• Lather: You know, can I make a shave soap out of it.
• Shave: How's it work on the ol' face while shaving.
• Post: How's the scent profile after the event. How does my face feel.

Pinnacle Grooming The Good Ship OS

Pinnacle Grooming is a UK-based soapmaker with a pretty solid following around the wetshaving community. I couldn't find exactly when they launched but their Facebook page says it was created in October of 2019 and since we all know social media is nothing but a bastion of truth I'm going to say it was around then. They say their ingredients are ethically and sustainably sourced but it's a little hard to trust them on the whole for reasons we'll dive into in a few paragraphs. (That's called a teaser, now you have to keep reading to find out THE SHOCKING TRUTH).
The Good Ship OS was a late addition to the series despite launching in 2021, well before I began digging around for Old Spice dupes. That may be because, from what I've seen, Pinnacle Grooming released this soap on a limited release, meaning once it was gone it was gone and it appears that The Good Ship OS is gone (outside of The Razor Company's stock, which is where I picked the soap up). This actually seems to be something they do often as their site notes, in some awkwardly written English, that they release limited editions of scents in order to cater to their cutomer's needs. Those scents seem to range from the weird (nutmeg/green appple/rose) to their "take" on already established scents.
"Take" is, of course, a controversial word in the land of duping and there's no clear statement from them on if they're just using dupe scents they've bought or actually building their own but most soapmakers aren't very clear on that anyway. I think this is meant to be a straight dupe but they do list two scent notes that don't always appear in descriptions of Old Spice: Clary Sage and Frankincense. So in the top layer you have the addition of Clary Sage alongside the more normally listed notes of Orange, Lemon, Spices, Anise, and Aldehydes. The middle notes are all the same with Cinnamon, Carnation, Geranium, Jasmine, Heliotrope, and Pimento berry. Then the base notes add in Frankincense to accompany the traditional Vanilla, Musk, Cedarwood, Benzoin, Tonka, and Ambergris.
The base is a bit of a hodgepodge of stuff you find in shaving soaps, with a wide variety of oils, butters, and other soapy things tossed in. It honestly reads like the creation of a child in their dad's soapmaking lab who just pores everything into the pot and lucks out with creating a soap: Beef Tallow. Potassium Stearate. Mango Butter. Distilled Water. Avocado Oil. Castor Oil. Goats Milk. Olive Oil. Aloe Vera Juice. Kokum Butter. Vegetable Glycerine. Almond Oil. Shea Butter. Silk Amino Acid. Coconut Oil. Lanolin. Grape Seed Extract. Bentonite Clay. Cocoa Butter. Camellia Oil. Sodium Lactate. Vitamin E Pure. mica pigment s (CI77019, CI77891, CI77288) Fragrance & Essential Oils. Gotta give props as always for goats milk, though. The soap itself is on the harder side and a darker color, heading into dark brown territory.
On a side note, Pinnacle Grooming did something pretty awesome with this soap. For every purchase £2.00 was donated to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which seems to be the British equivalent of the the U.S. Coast Guard... or maybe the Coast Guard is the U.S. equivalent of the RNLI. Anyway, it seems like a good cause and they even posted a picture of the donations being sent to their Facebook page.
Sadly, no matter how good this review is or isn't and no matter where some of the proceeds go, I can't recommend buying from Pinnacle as they appear to be thieves. I thought at first that Pinnacle Grooming had some of the coolest artwork around with a variety of unique images, unfortunatley that seems to be because they've stolen most of it. I ran about 10 searches on random artwork on their tubs and every single one of them came from either an artist's website, a literal official piece of character artwork, or one of those t-shirt design sites. This extends to The Good Ship OS artwork, which appears to be taken from an artist named Ian Gowdie. The piece itself is a fantastic rendition of what I assume to be an RNLI lifeboat cutting through a brisk sea, supposedly on its way to save someone's life while smelling really fucking good. I bet whomever it saves will instantly say something like, "Thank you for saving me, and damn you smell good." But despite being perfect for an Old Spice soap container, it's not theirs to use. They don't credit any of the artists anywhere on their page that I can see nor do they mention it on the tub so even if they did pay for a digital copy of every piece of art on a tub it's still pretty shitty and a total bummer.
Caveat: I would be happy, by the way, to be proven wrong about that and discover that they are paying the artists for their art but it seems unlikely. And now I've spent two hours doing research on a shaving soap company and the images on some fucking tubs, basically ruining my desire for the soap itself so... now I'm just grumpy. Let's get on with the review (which was actually written first and not influenced by any of the above).
Oldness: 3
While they may be aiming for a dupe, Pinnacle Grooming should really market this as a riff. They aren't veering far off from the original but the scent feels different. Off the puck, the soap is especially strong in the anise with the citrus playing hard in there as well. That settles down on the shave with the on-point middle notes and base coming through stronger but it still isn't a traditional Old Spice scent. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely an Old Spice scent but there's something a bit fresher and more modern to it. Maybe it's the Clary Sage but I couldn't tell you what that actually smells like or who this suspicious Clary person is and why he's got special sage.
Spiciness: 5
Honestly, I love this scent. It feels fresh and modern for some reason and at some point I'm going to have to buy some U.S. Old Spice to see if it maybe matches closer to that. Part of this is, of course, the fact that it's just something different enough from the OG scent I'm using all the time to stand out but it's also really great to smell. There's something incredibly refreshing about Good Ship OS that makes it actually fit with the sea-faring theme of Old Spice -- like a brisk breeze on the ocean air. It's not aquatic but it feels like something you would wear while on a boat, going fast, wearing a nautical-themed pashmina afghan.
Lather: 2
Pinnacle's Base builds up easily enough for sure but what it builds into is kind of lackluster. The lather is kind of airy no matter how long you work it. It's not so bad that it looks broken or overly thin but it never heats that glorious zone where the lather turns into a slick, fluffy mess. It's also super thirsty, which isn't always a bad thing but does mean that it can be tricky to dial in if you're not patient, which we all know is a strong suit of people shaving their faces at 6 a.m.
Shave: 3
Sometimes an airy lather can still deliver a great shave, which is one of the reasons that I separate shave and lather. The Good Ship OS kind of does. In fact, the shave is all sorts of "kind of." It's got kind of good cushion, and kind of good slickness, and kind of good face feel. Nothing stands out especially about it but it's definitely not delivering a bad shave either, plus it helps that the scent is so good. I will say that it doesn't do much in the residual slickness department but, again, it's not terrible.
Post: 2
Good Ship doesn't do anything to special on the face despite the presence of goat milk (and a bajillion other face-softening ingredients)! I'm not sure how that's possible but maybe they're getting their milk from lackluster goats. You know, the shady kind that eat the wrong kind of grass. Anyway, it's a perfectly fine post-shave feel but now we come to the real rub. This more "modern/brisk" verson of Old Spice doesn't play so well with the classic scent of the aftershaves. It's OK with the Indian version, where the elevated anise and crisper scents mingle fine, but put it with the vintage one and it goes together about as well as stolen art and a moral compass. (OK, that last sentence was edited post research it originally said "a fish and a bicycle.") While its score could easily be improved by one by just not using an aftershave that doesn't work with its scent, the point here is to use Old Spice as much as possible so I had to ding it.
Final Verdict: 15
Why, oh, why is this fantastic scent stuck in this middling soap (and attached to a crummy company). The Good Ship OS delivers one of my favorite takes on Old Spice but can't manage anything else great and has a shave that is simply on par. The soap is a cut above the truly terrible ones, easily, but it can't deliver anything special either. Maybe, outside of the confines of this review system, I'd like it more but within the bounds of The Great Spice Off it mostly misses the mark.
Previous Great Spice Offs:

1. 1940s Old Spice Shaving Soap in Vintage Mug (9)
2. 1973-91 Old Spice Shaving Soap (7)
3. Old Spice Shaving Cream (Original) (12)
4. Master Soap Creations Vintage Spice (19)
5. Black Ship Grooming Classic (17)
6. OSP Old Gold (19)
7. Chiseled Face Groomatorium Trade Winds (17)
8. Wholly Kaw Twice as Spice (17)
9. Barrister and Mann Barrister's Reserve Spice (21)
10. Mama Bear Aged Spice (10)
11. MERShaving Old Timer Spice (20)
12. Soap Commander Endurance (20)
13. Signature Soaps Novus Spice (17)
14. Hoffman's Shave and Soap Company Burn the Ships (19)
15. Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Cold Spice (15)
16. Hendrix Classics & Co Commodore (20)
17. Ginger's Garden Old Spice Type (15)
18. Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations Mariner (10)
19. Stone Field Shaving Company Ltd. No. 37 (18)
20. Cooper & French Old Goat (19)
21. The Holy Black Artisan Line Shaving Soap (21)
22. Stirling Soap Co. Stirling Spice (20)
23. Van Yulay Spicy Man (10)

I'm also looking for the below soaps if you've got any you're willing to sell/trade/donate:

• Wild West Shaving Co. Snake Oil
• Whickam Spice Trade
• Occult Grooming Essentials Modern Spice
• Artifact Soap Works Old Spice Type
• Wet the Face Spices From the Sea

I already have these soaps that I have not reviewed yet:

• Seaforth Spice
• Pinnacle Grooming The Good Ship
• Hendrix Classics & Co Commander
• Crowne & Crane The Spice
• Mystic Water Windjammer
• The Village Soap Smith Old Spice Type

“Show of hands. Who can tell me Day of Memorium’s origin?”
“It was when we kicked those aliens’ asz…butts, sir,” Bobby blurted out.
“Not only inaccurate but failed to follow instructions. Your enthusiasm is appreciated, though.” The instructor glanced over the class, choosing the girl trying to hide her partially raised hand behind another student. “Madelyn, if you would, please.”
Madelyn shrunk in on herself at the attention before offering, “It was when the Drak’nal were defeated, though we didn’t do it?”
Mr. Watkins shook his head. “Closer, but still not correct. Anyone else want to venture a guess?”
Arms drooped as hands disappeared beneath desks under his gaze. “It hasn’t been long since that bit of history was current events–” he paused when a lone hand reached into the air “–but there is still hope. Mr. Davis, if you would, please.”
The boy stood and cleared his throat.
_______________________
“We’ve arrived in-system, with no sign of the Drak’nal yet.”
The Elder nodded his understanding. “And the translation process?”
Their subordinate stared for a moment, eyes shifting to the data playing in the air before them. “It appears to be finished, though the Codex itself may not be complete.”
“It will have to do,” the Elder responded. “Let us make contact. And hope.”
* * * * *
Ensign Katsuma’s sensor screen flared red. “Commander! Contact, unknown configuration, unknown energy signature. Closing…closing faster than something that size should be able to.”
The signal station lit up. Ensign Yoruba called out, “Incoming signal across all channels, massive bandwidth… looks to be a program. Initiating lock out – can’t block the signal, sir.”
Commander Lewis rose from the station’s command chair as the CNC’s lights flickered, and a digitized garbling filled the air before clarifying to Common speech coming from the comms console. “–you receiving? We bring information and warning. They are coming.”
________________________
“Very good, Mr. Davis,” Mr. Watkins said, motioning for the speaker to take his seat. “Who knows how our military responded?” Another pair of raised hands pleased him, and choosing one, he nodded. “Go ahead.”
________________________
“Looks like ‘they’ are here,” the commander muttered before issuing orders directing available ships to intercept and station weapons to target the alien vessel. Multiple capital ships moved to take position at their maximum firing ranges. Lewis called for an open channel and declared, “State your name and intention.”
The response followed the same yet shorter pattern of garbled noise before shifting to a pleasant overlapping of male and female voices speaking Common. “We are the Shal.vae, and we come offering assistance. The Swarm is on its way. There is not much time.”
Ensign Katsuma spoke up. “Sir, readings are coming back now. That vessel is leaking energy we’ve never seen before. Looks like it took a beating getting here.”
“Our systems are also slowing down, sir,” called out Ensign Yoruba. “Operating at eighty percent and dropping. All nearby ships report the same.”
A brief squeal and *pop* blared across comms before fading to silence. The blended voice said, “We must speak with your leaders immediately, or we won’t be able to help.”
______________________
“Imagine not only being there, but being one of the people to actually first experience such things. That was a tense time, no?” the instructor asked the class. Multiple heads bobbed in agreement, though he noted confusion on one student’s face and pointed at them. “Yes?”
“I figure we would’ve started shooting at anyone who just showed up like that, let alone tried leaving us defenseless. And how did they know Common? That’s a human language, right?”
“Indeed it is. Bridging the communication gap was the first gift they ever gave us. First contact protocols had been in place since before we reached the stars, but being able to actually communicate with anyone we finally met? Quite the concern.” Mr. Watkins smiled. “Since we didn’t ‘shoot first and ask questions later’, as much of our entertainment suggests we would, who can tell me the good commander’s response?”
He took a moment to scan the room and picked a newly interested face. Engagement made the job so much more rewarding.
________________________
“This is Commander Lewis, the commanding officer of this sector. I can tightbeam any information you share back to SC HQ, but I’m what you’ve got until they make a decision. You mentioned the…Swarm, right?” Commander Lewis asked, looking at his comms officer for confirmation. “We appreciate your offer of help, but with what? How?”
There was no noise before the Common reply came this time. “Yes, the Drak’nal. They consume and destroy all in their path. We come to help you leave here and survive.”
Lewis glared at the embattled silver-gray ship on his screen. “We’d need proof anything you’ve said is true, first. Even if we had reason to trust you and wanted to leave the system, it’d take weeks for just the ships in flight to get clear. I don’t want to think about the chaos of evacuating the civilian population.”
"Proof we can provide," the speaker responded. Every screen in the command center flickered before displaying scenes of devastation and horror, each viewer shown different atrocities. The silver-gray ship on the main screen was replaced with a silent video feed more ominous than the rest: a multi-hued planet viewed along its solar terminator hung glowing in space. The daylight showed a pair of large purple-green land masses surrounded by water, while the night side glowed vibrantly with signs of civilized life.
A pulsing, rounded shape came into view, contrasting against the gorgeous backdrop before emanating a swirling black mass toward the world below. It flowed across the visible landscapes before crossing into dark and swallowing the light to engulf the entire planet in a squirming, shifting blanket of – he found his mind balking at the very concept of anything acting like that.
Commander Lewis felt nauseous, the sensation of insects crawling across his skin flooding his senses as he watched the mass withdraw, leaving only barren, lifeless rock behind. "My God, what is that?"
________________________
The instructor motioned for his student to stop, hoping to avoid what often devolved into wild speculation among his classes. "We still have no clear answer to the commander's question, as any recordings and logs of that broadcast were lost. There are only verbal and written accounts of what they saw, but suffice it to say the images were terrible. Multiple survivors of the conflict that followed spent the remainder of their lives under close supervision in mental care facilities.”
“Mr. Watkins?”
“Yes?”
“Why’d they stop at one of the stations near the Belt? Why not just go straight to Earth, or at least Mars? Wouldn’t it have sped things up?”
“There’s always been much speculation on that, and you are correct that certain things might have happened much faster if they had. Or much worse. Perhaps they chose a more remote location to prevent panic or an…overly aggressive…military response when they appeared? Or maybe the damage to their ship prevented them from reaching the other locations?” Mr. Watkins shrugged. “Could even be my favorite and personal belief: it was the place they were supposed to be.”
______________________________
“That is the Drak’nal, and evidence of their actions against life everywhere,” the voice, now morphed into a perfect blend of male and female tones, explained. “Among what remains of my people, I am called Elder. Apologies for our actions upon arrival, but we often find…expedience…to be the best course in our efforts.”
“Such efforts could have also resulted in a hail of gunfire, depending on who’s in my chair when you showed up,” Lewis retorted. “You arrive unannounced, in close proximity and moving fast, then assault our systems with a potentially hostile program before saying a word.”
The signal ensign spoke up before Lewis could continue. “Sir?”
He turned his gaze toward her. “Yes?”
“Systems are coming back up.” She double checked her instruments. “Station wide power draw has decreased by over ten percent and dropping.”
“So we’re losing power?”
“No, sir. All functions reading nominal, just not drawing as much power. Report the same from all ships.”
The commander focused a look at the ship now back on the main screen. “Elder, is this your doing?”
“That would be the Codex, our gift to you.”
________________________________
Every hand in the class went up at that, while several students made noises hoping to draw his attention.
Of course they would, Mr. Watkins thought. That was when everything changed, after all.
“I’m glad to see enthusiasm about some part of our course, at least,” he laughed, “but let’s stay on topic, shall we?”
He watched all but Madelyn’s hand lower to their desks and nodded acknowledgement to her before continuing. “What happened next?”
_______________________________
Lewis fired off an update to SC HQ via tightbeam before listening to the Shal.vae Elder go on at length about the Codex and what it held before interrupting them. “That’s well and good, but I can’t accept such a gift on our behalf. Hell, I didn’t even understand half of what you said, though my science officer is practically dancing in place over here. That said, as long as this won’t affect our ability to function any further, we’ll consider it a gesture of good will.”
“It is all we can offer, sadly. You’ve doubtlessly noticed the damage to our ship, but even fully functional, we would be unable to stop the Swarm.”
“And you don’t think we’ll be able to either, do you?”
“Not with what is here, nor in the time you have remaining before they likely arrive, no.”
The commander stood silently, processing the best courses of action before asking, “How long?”
___________________________
“Is it really true the Drak… Drak –whatever– showed up right behind the good aliens?” Bobby blurted out, interrupting Madelyn.
Mr. Watkins waved the question away. “No, it wasn’t like in the vids, where the bad guys show up on cue and with dramatic music, but it wasn’t far off in this case, either. We still relied on tightbeam transmissions and relays at that point, so the fastest reply Commander Lewis could have expected would have been roughly an hour after sending a message, and we all know bureaucracy moves nowhere near the speed of light, right?”
Once the class’ laughter trailed off, the teacher explained, “That said, everything between the Shal.vae arriving and the Sacrifice did occur that same day.”
____________________________
Ensign Katsuma called out, “Contact! Large shape at the edge of sensor range, inbound to our location.”
“Not long at all,” Lewis muttered, answering his own question as the Elder spoke up.
“We feared the damage suffered in our last encounter might draw them to us, a predator chasing failing prey, as it were, but not so soon. Our hope was to leave the Codex so it could prepare you for what was to come.”
“Elder, I need you to head in-system and let them know what’s coming. We’ll do our best to keep them here.” The commander issued orders to all combat ships and weapon systems to lock onto the incoming target before instructing Yoruba to relay everything back to HQ. “All combat units, hold station and fire on my command. Concentrate fire at the transmitted coordinates. All other ships, make best speed away from here.”
“What are you doing?” Elder asked, confusion in the blended overlapping voices. “We told you they could not be stopped. Flee, survive. That is the only reasonable option. Fighting only brings loss and death.”
“And I told you to go warn our people. We don’t have FTL, so the ships here can’t escape. You getting earthside is the best chance for humanity’s survival,” Lewis replied. “We’ve sent word, so they’ll know you’re coming.”
“Change in target,” Katsuma stated. “Readings unclear, but looks to be growing, expanding in our direction.”
“But you’ll die here.”
“I know,” Commander Lewis sighed. “But sometimes the point of the fight is the fight itself. Now go. Please.”
With that, he gave the command to engage the Drak’nal.
____________________________
A voice interrupted Mr. Watkins. “What did he say?”
“Excuse me?”
“Commander Lewis, when he ordered the attack. Plenty of military leaders have memorable quotes, so why wouldn’t he?”
The teacher gave the question its due consideration. “To our knowledge, he gave the troops no rousing speech, only his words to the Shal.vae and actions thereafter. That’s what made the Sacrifice all the more astonishing.”
____________________________
Sol Cooperative ships unleashed their fury at the dark shape moving toward them, altering their trajectories clear of the Drak’nal’s path while preparing a second volley. The station itself vibrated and rumbled with the coordinated fire of missile and gun batteries, flinging the SC’s most potent weapons across the expanse of space. Every serviceperson held their breath, waiting for impact…only to watch the munitions be absorbed, with dim flickers of detonation within the Swarm itself.
The dark mass shifted, sending tendrils of matter at its attackers. Nearby ships were quickly engulfed, and signals winked out on the CNC’s main display. Other vessels took evasive measures, to no avail. The Swarm consumed them whole when it reached them.
“Weapons, maintain fire,” Commander Lewis ordered, moving back to his station and sitting down. After tapping commands into the console on his right armrest, he pressed his palm against a scanner newly revealed on the left. A retinal scanner swiveled into position from the top of his chair back, and he leaned into it, spouting a sequence of words and numbers once it beeped. That done, Lewis spared a glance at the sensors and noted the Shal.vae ship hadn’t moved. “Elder, I asked you to leave. Let our sacrifice give you the time to help our people as you can.”
“You can not hope to defeat them, not like this,” the Elder answered. “They will take you.”
“I’ve initiated the station’s self-destruct measures, so we’ll detonate when they reach us. We can’t win, but they’ll damn well know they were in a fight.”
“This fight is senseless!”
Lewis looked at the screen. “Like I said, sometimes the point of the fight is the fight. Let us take our stand, and you go do your job!”
__________________________________
Bobby piped up. “That never made sense to me. Why not run away? We couldn’t be sure they would have gone to Earth, and Mars and Luna didn’t even have life on the surface back then. What would have made them come after us if the Shal hadn’t shown up?”
“Shal.vae,” Mr. Watkins corrected, “and we can never be certain the Swarm didn’t just follow them to Sol, true. However, the evidence provided suggested they sought out life wherever it was. Even if it didn’t happen at that time, it’s reasonable to believe the Drak’nal might still have shown up at some other time, and we would not have known what was coming. Without the Shal.vae’s actions…who knows?”
__________________________________
The channel fell silent for some time before the silver-gray started to move. “Finally.”
“Sir?”
“Yes, Katsuma?”
The ensign hesitated. “Shal.vae vessel moving to intercept the Drak’nal.”
He pounded the armrest, yelling, “What are you doing?”
“What we should have done in the beginning,” the Elder replied, “and ending their threat.”
Commander Lewis sputtered, “Why would you not have before??”
The Elder responded, voice muted. “Because this ship and all on it are the last of our people. We, we ran to give warning…and because we feared the end of our race. No longer.”
“Energy readings increasing on their vessel!” someone cried out. “Shal.vae on a direct course for the Drak’nal mass.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Lewis cajoled them. “You said you wanted to save us, save us.”
“And so we shall.”
“Energy spike!”
_____________________
Mr. Watkins paced across the silent classroom, shifting the students’ focus. “Consider this: we’d spent our entire existence wondering if we were alone. Even with several of the ‘ancient wonders’ on Earth, we had no proof there was other life out there, not until not one but two alien races arrived and at the same time. Not only that, but we’d been presented with evidence that multiple other races had existed, implying others may still exist.”
“For all its warts, humanity also has a history of standing for the weak and sacrificing for those in need. The Shal.vae activating their FTL drive to plunge through the very heart of the Drak’nal swarm and giving their very existence to save us…well, it set us a shining example, did it not?”
Madelyn raised her hand. “Why’d they do it?”
The teacher shrugged. “No way to know for sure. While they managed to end the Drak’nal’s existence in the end, the Swarm had enough momentum to carry it into the station. With no way to know at the time that the Shal.vae had actually killed them, Commander Lewis did indeed detonate the station’s reactors, obliterating the remnants of the Swarm.”
“Then how do we know what happened?” Bobby asked.
Watkins raised a finger. “Remember the Shal.vae’s gift, the Codex?” He watched everyone nod. “It was also included in the transmission back to Earth. While we’re still unpacking elements of it all this time later, it was able to relay those events up to Commander Lewis’ final action. Since then, we’ve witnessed it grant us access to knowledge humanity may have never achieved. Instantaneous communications. The ability to treat or eradicate any ailment. It even allowed us to crack multiple forms of faster than light travel, once we understood that the Codex unlocked and shared information as we learned as a society.”
With that, he strode back and placed his hands on his podium. “While some consider the Codex the greatest gift the Shal.vae gave us, I disagree.” He rested his elbows on it, leaning toward the class and lowering his voice. “I believe their greatest gift was giving us hope.”
/ / /
Been a minute since I've posted, I know, but I was inspired to write this one shot by the concept of Memorial Day and remembering those who've given all for those around them, regardless of how they've done so. I hope you enjoyed it.
My wiki has everything else I've written for HFY, and it's a variety of tales in an assortment of styles. Maybe you'll even find something that inspires you to follow me. Who knows, right? Thanks for reading.

Here are a few of the sources I've been using to understand whats going on. Please feel free to comment your own and I'll update the post.
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Maps:

• Canadian wildfire information system interactive map: https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/interactive-map?zoom=12¢er=2417898.3190719546,124995.09522162029&month=05&day=30&year=2023#iMap
• FIRMS map: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/usfs/map/?fbclid=IwAR2dsK19A4B4HcydLoBRcH3sTFmWYUYGzmy-GsEkgszxyLjd5efBaCmjf38#m:tsd;d:24hrs;@-63.8,44.7,14z

​
Audio:

• Nova Scotia Fire and EMS Radio Scanner: https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/10594

​
Fire-Specific Social Media:

• HRM Fire News (Twitter): https://twitter.com/HRMFireNews
• NS Wildfire Megathread (Reddit) https://www.reddit.com/halifax/comments/13udiy4/megathread_ns_wildfire_info_and_discussion/
• Nova Scotia Fire/Emergency/Info (Facebook)- https://www.facebook.com/NSFIREEMERGENCY?mibextid=ZbWKwL

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Helpful Social Media groups:

• HRM-Tantallon Wildfire Lost Pets (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/groups/207451542181623

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General Social Media News Sources:

• HalifaxNoise (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/halifaxnoise/
• Novia Scotia Buzz (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/NovaScotiaBuzz
• Haligonia (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/haligonia
• CBC Nova Scotia (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/CBCNovaScotia/

​

I had posted this as a comment awhile back and thought it would be useful to repost and hopefully get more additions for things I missed.
Mods - is there a way I can add this to the community calendar in the side nav?
Upcoming Events
Trucks on the Tracks: Binghamton, June 1 and 1st Thurs of month all summer
Greek Festival: Vestal, June 1-4
https://annunciationvestal.ny.goarch.org/greek-festival
Strawberry Festival: Owego, June 15-17
http://www.owego.org/strawberry-festival
Country Music Wine and Beer Festival: Chenango Forks, July 8
https://visitbinghamton.org/event/2nd-annual-country-music-wine-beer-festival-at-madrona-tasting-room/
Colesville Super Celebration: Colesville, July 8.
https://www.facebook.com/people/Colesville-Super-Celebration/100057032936754/
Harper M Stantz Rec Park Music Fest: Rec Park, July 9
https://www.facebook.com/groups/367408238561/
Broome County Fair: Whitney Point, July 25-30
https://www.broomecountyfairny.com/
Blueberry Festival: Greene, July 29
Spiedie Fest: Ostsingingo Park, August 4-6
Garlic Festival: Binghamton, August ???
LUMA Projection Arts Festival - Binghamton, September 8-9
Endicott Apple Festival: Endicott, Sept 16
Past Event
Culinary Arts Festival: SUNY Broome Culinary Center, April 16
Wine and Food Festival: Roberson, April 20
Earth Fest: Ross Park Zoo, April 22

I don’t mind up to 1hr drive. I just moved here from humboldt county California and loved swimming in the rivers there. Looking to find some spots locally to splash around with me and my dog. Is there things I should know ? Like not swimming in certain rivers, or until a certain time in summer, or things like blue green algae which is toxic? Also do people swim in the ocean here during summer? Lol when does the water get warm ? Dog friendly beaches?

"Hello, I'm CMDR Havok Mustang and this is my favorite fungus on the Citadel."
 
There's a lot of scattered info and/or long guides with too much info but I am gonna speedrun any% with only the real important info for the people that just want to (ab)use this to make hella cash.
 
You need three things: a small ship with a decent jump range + fuel scoop, an Artemis suit from your local station shop, and Elite Observatory with the BioInsights plugin.
 
1) Go out about 1000ly or so from the bubble; further is optional but slightly better.
2) Set your star filter to KGBFOAM and plot an economic route to anywhere.
3) Press 'start monitor' in Observatory and just honk + FSS the systems you go through. You will see stuff pop up in the app as well as overlayed onto your game. If there's nothing in the app, next system, keep it moving. Important: A planet can already be discovered and mapped, but if it has no first footfall recorded yet, you will get that 5x payout bonus.
4) If it says "Stratum Tectonicas" anywhere in BioInsights, go DSS the planet and land in the blue-green-ish zone and find it. Unless it's 10+kLs away, then it's not worth the flight. This is what it looks like. Yes, the app will tell you it's ~19mil, but you're gonna be getting ~95mil because of the 5x payout bonus if it's a first footfall.
5) Take your 3 samples, let the canister animation play FULLY and then enter your ship, and fuck off to the next body/system. Ignore everything else, it's not worth it if you simply want the money grind. It's only worth it if say, there's another bio signal that's worth 15+mil (so 75+ with the bonus) and it's found on the same terrain type as the Stratum. Otherwise, keep going instead, it's not worth leaving and re-entering the atmosphere just for that.
 
If you die for any reason you lose all your samples.
 
That's it. Boring? Yes. Probably mind-numbing after more than a few hours? Absolutely. But hella space dollar tho.
 
tl;dr done. Happy sampling, CDMRs.
 
For people who want to read a bit more, here's an addendum for further safety and/or efficiency:
1) You can use your composition scanner on the ship to scan the bio sigs you're pointing at. BioInsights will tell you the value in an overlay (on top of inside the app) if you do this.
2) Flying low over a planet's surface can be a bit dangerous sometimes so keeping 4 pips in shields and landing gear deployed is helpful.
3) Owning a carrier (or having one nearby) is a big boon to quickly turn your stuff in. Vista Genomics does not take a cut, unlike Universal Cartographics. You will always get full value for your samples.
4) First footfalls are instant and are logged as such. If you have it, all bio sigs you sample will have the 5x bonus even if someone else turns them in first.
5) Don't bother with an SRV. The deploy + board animations are a massive waste of time, it's so much easier and quicker just flying at a 45-degree angle with your ship over the surface.
6) BioInsights is pretty accurate but not 100%. Sometimes it will show more bio sigs than there are on the planet. DSS'ing the planet usually marks the false predicted entries with a cross.

Please, feel free to add any events below! Check out the Visitor's Guide for more things to do around town!
Looking to meet up with people? Check out Meetup St. Louis.
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Be sure to continue scrolling past the Weekly Events for Trivia Nights, Live Music, Sporting Events, Local Comedy, and more!
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• Bellefontaine in Bloom
  • Spring 2023
  • Join others for a brisk spring walk through Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum! In the months of March, April, and May, Bellefontaine offers a two-hour walking tour of the cemetery and arboretum. This 2-hour walk will be led by one of their Master Guides who will convey highlights of the cemetery grounds, horticulture, and a variety of intriguing figures who call Bellefontaine their last address. Particular attention will be paid to the Horticulture side of the cemetery while in different levels of bloom during these spring tours.
• Chess at the Brewery
  • Every Wednesday
  • Local meetup group of chess players that meet at breweries on Wednesday nights. They rotate locations each week.
  • See their Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chessatthebrewery/) for the location this week.
• Chihuly in the Missouri Botanical Garden
  • Running until October 15, 2023
  • The work of world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly is coming to the Missouri Botanical Garden in a stunning exhibition uniting art and nature. With thousands of pieces of blown glass forms in 20 dramatic installations throughout the Garden’s grounds, Chihuly in the Garden 2023 presents these artworks on a grand scale
• Confluence Music Festival at World Wide Technology Raceway
  • June 2 - 4, 2023
  • The 80,000-plus fans projected to attend the upcoming Enjoy Illinois 300, a NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, will be entertained at every turn.
  • In its second year, the Confluence Music Festival will showcase innovation, talent and live entertainment. The festival will feature 30 local, regional and national acts, including headliner Dierks Bentley, performing on multiple stages over the weekend.
• Family Night with Fredbird
  • Wednesdays
  • Join others at Cardinals Nation Restaurant & Bar for Family Night with Fredbird on select Wednesday evenings this off-season! Bring your family down for games, prizes, and meet Fredbird from 6:30-7:30pm.
• Ferguson Farmers’ Market
  • Every Saturday
  • Enjoy live music and special events in a festive family atmosphere, and discover a wide variety of edible delights, including homemade jelly, farm fresh eggs, honey, spices, and meats. You’ll also find an ever-changing array of gift and specialty vendors, selling everything from cut flowers and bedding plants to hand-painted artwork and small-batch soaps.
  • If it’s homemade, handmade or fresh and tasty, you can buy it at the Ferguson Farmers’ Market.
• First Friday at the Contemporary Art Museum: Queer Revolution
  • June 2, 2023
  • Start the first Friday of the month with art, music, and culture in the Grand Center Arts District. This month, join others for an evening celebrating queer revolutionary action and performance.
• First Friday at St. Louis Science Center: Star Trek
  • June 2, 2023
  • Star Trek returns for discovery at the Saint Louis Science Center’s First Friday, focusing on LGBTQ+ voices in the Star Trek universe during Pride Month.
• Green Living Festival at St. Louis Art Museum
  • June 3, 2023
  • Help your family, friends and coworkers live green! The Missouri Botanical Garden’s annual Green Living Festival will host a series of pop-up events during its “Summer of Sustainability,” with the first event taking place at the Saint Louis Art Museum.
• Jackie Joyner Kersee 5K
  • June 3, 2023
  • Don't miss the fun and excitement of the inaugural JJK5K Race June 3 at World Wide Technology Raceway as part of the 2023 NASCAR weekend. This marks the first-ever race named in honor to benefit hometown champion Jackie Joyner Kersee.
  • Jackie will award the medals herself – this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to run on the track and be photographed crossing the finish line, cheered on by our hometown Olympic champion!
• Karaoke Wednesdays at HandleBar
  • Every Wednesday
  • Browse the catalog and find your favorite songs to sing! Songbookslive.com/stlredcarpet
• Karaoke Wednesdays at Mack's Bar & Grill
  • Every Wednesday
• Lafayette Square Summer Concert Series
  • June 3, 2023
  • As part of Lafayette Square’s free summer concert series, Power Play Band will perform in Lafayette Park on June 3. Spanning genres such as jazz, classic rock, R&B, swing, Latin and pop, Power Play does it all! Gather friends and family, pack food and beverages, and don’t miss this lively event.
• Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours
  • Every Saturday
  • Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tours: History, Culture, Architecture, and Exercise: What could be better on a Saturday morning?
• NASCAR Cup Series: Enjoy Illinois 300
  • June 3 - 4, 2023
  • Enjoy Illinois 300, a NASCAR Cup Series race, returns to World Wide Technology Raceway on June 3 and 4.
• Open Mic Night at Schlafly Bottleworks (Maplewood)
  • Every Wednesday
  • Join others every Wednesday evening and showcase your talents with our Open Mic Night! Open sign up begins at 6:30PM with music starting at 7:00PM. They welcome original material, covers and spoken word! Grab a beer, then play and listen every Wednesday! There are no cover charges and no drink minimums to attend.
• Shakespeare in the Park: Twelfth Night
  • May 31 - June 25, 2023
  • Often regarded as William Shakespeare’s greatest comedy, Twelfth Night is bursting with romance, music and high times.
  • Shakespeare in the Park is free to attend; no reservations are required. Just show up with your blankets, chairs and picnics and find a spot on the lawn. Shakespeare Glen opens at 6:30. Food by Steve’s Hot Dogs is available for purchase, and drinks by STL Barkeep.
• Soccer Pre-Match Street Party at Schlafly Tap Room
  • June 3, 2023
  • Join others before every City SC home match for a Street Party with the St. Louligans Soccer Supporters Group. They will block off the street next to the Tap Room (now known as Louligan Street) so fans can enjoy good beer, great food, music and fun before they march over to the stadium together.
• Soulard Farmer's Market
  • Wednesdays - Saturdays
  • Soulard Farmers Market is located at 730 Carroll Street in St. Louis, Missouri, a half mile north of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. The market is open Wednesday through Saturday, year round. They feature locally grown and shipped in goods, including: produce, meats, cheeses, spices, gourmet kettle corn, flowers, baked goods, and general merchandise. There are also several different eateries that have many food options, which allows customers the convenience to grab a quick bite to eat and a drink while shopping.
• Sunrise Yoga at Kiener Plaza
  • Every Tuesday
  • Awaken your body and bask in the morning sunlight! This gentle yoga practice is designed to energize and align your body and mind through movement and breath. Bring your own mat/towel and water bottle.
• Thursday Nights at the Museum
  • Every Thursday
  • Kick off your weekend at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park! Each Thursday Night at the Museum will be the most fun, engaging, uplifting, thought-provoking, perspective-shaping night of your week. And there are drinks.
  • Join others starting at 5:30pm for happy hour and pop-up activities, such as brief tours, games, and performances. The main stage comes to life at 6:30pm, light appetizers and drinks are available for purchase until 7:00pm, and the Museum’s exhibits are open until 8:00pm for you to explore!
• Tower Grove Farmer's Market
  • Every Tuesday & Saturday
  • Join others every Saturday of the 2023 Tower Grove Farmers Market Season. They'll have over 100 vendors with local produce, meat, flowers, eggs, honey, prepared foods, art, jewelry, live music, and so much more.
• Whitaker Music Festival
  • Every Wednesday until August 2nd
  • The Missouri Botanical Garden is an idyllic place to listen to live music. On Wednesday evenings throughout the summer, the garden hosts free, open-air concerts as part of the annual Whitaker Music Festival.

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Sporting Events This Week	Attractions Around the Area	Comedy This Week
St. Louis Cardinals schedule	Anheuser-Busch Brewery	Funny Bone Comedy Club
St. Louis Blues schedule	City Museum	Helium Comedy Club
St. Louis City SC schedule	Gateway Arch	The Improv Shop
St. Louis Battlehawks schedule	Missouri History Museum
St. Louis Billikens schedule	National Blues Museum
Gateway Grizzlies schedule	St. Louis Aquarium
Gateway Motorsports Park	St. Louis Art Museum
St. Louis Ambush schedule	St. Louis Science Center
	St. Louis Zoo

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Trivia Nights
Location	Date/Time	More Information
Anheuser-Busch Biergarten	Tuesdays 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Bar K	Tuesdays at 7:00 pm
City Foundry	Thursdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Joey B's on the Hill	Mondays 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm	Trivia Details
Nick's Pub	Mondays
Felix's Pizza Pub	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Schlafly Brewpubs (Any Location)	Tuesdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Rockwell Beer Co	Tuesdays	Trivia Details (Reservations required)
The Mack	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
The Pat Connolly Tavern	Wednesdays at 7:00 pm
The Post	Wednesdays 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm	Trivia Details
Pieces Board Game Bar & Cafe	Wednesdays	Trivia Details
HandleBar	Thursdays at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Steve's Hot Dogs	Tuesdays 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Trivia Details

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Live Music This Week
Music Venues	Live Music Around Town
Blueberry Hill Duck Room	1860 Saloon
Chesterfield Amphitheater	BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups
Delmar Hall	Broadway Oyster Bar
Enterprise Center	City Foundry
The Fabulous Fox Theatre	Gallery Pub
The Factory	Game 6 Honky Tonk
Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre	Gaslight Lounge
Off Broadway	The Heavy Anchor
Old Rock House	Jazz St. Louis
The Pageant	Joe's Cafe
Red Flag	The Lot on the Landing
The Sheldon	McGurk's
St. Louis Music Park	SoFar St. Louis Secret performances around town
St. Louis Symphony Concert Calendar	Venice Cafe
Stifel Theatre	Yaquis on Cherokee

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Recurring Outdoor Activities
Big Muddy Adventures – STL Riverfront Adventure	Big Muddy Adventures was established in 2002. They are the first professional outfitteguiding company providing access to the wild wonders of the Middle Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers.
Gateway Arch Events	There are a variety of things to do along the Mississippi River.
Hidden Valley Ski Resort	Ziplining, scenic chairlift rides, and hiking trails opened during the summer. Skiing, snowboarding during the winter.

Today, May 30th, is the close of books for the June 20th Democratic Party Primary! If you wish to vote a regular ballot for this primary, you must update or complete registration by 5pm today on paper (edit: and bring that paper to the city elections office at 120 7th St NE) or 11:59pm online (with a VA DMV-issued ID) at the Citizen Portal.
 
Same Day Registration will be available after this date, both for the remainder of Early Voting and on Election Day, but we encourage everyone to complete their registration by Close of Books. If you do not, you will only be able to vote a provisional ballot, and it won't go into the regular ballot scanner.
 
If you live near UVA, we've also created a handy reference list to tell if you're in Albemarle Co. or Charlottesville City. It has contact info for both localities, in case you need it for any reason. UVA Area Housing Guide

Today, May 30th, is the close of books for the June 20th Democratic Party Primary! If you wish to vote a regular ballot for this primary, you must update or complete registration by 5pm today on paper or 11:59pm online (with a VA DMV-issued ID) at the Citizen Portal.
 
Same Day Registration will be available after this date, both for the remainder of Early Voting and on Election Day, but we encourage everyone to complete their registration by Close of Books. If you do not, you will only be able to vote a provisional ballot, and it won't go into the regular ballot scanner.
 
If you live near UVA, we've also created a handy reference list to tell if you're in Albemarle Co. or Charlottesville City. It has contact info for both localities, in case you need it for any reason. UVA Area Housing Guide

If anyone is traveling to Charlotte on I85 and passes by the Granville County Rest Area heading West and also has a pair of jumper cables, a sad man in a green Toyota Highlander would appreciate some help.
Edit: All taken care of.

I just read on Facebook that someone was getting the Big Green Coach from Aberdeen to the Slam Dunk festival and it never turned up.
Now I'm starting to panic about the bus for Download. I am getting the Big Green Coach from Aberdeen on the Wenesday at 5am. Anyone else in here getting that same bus, just so I know not to worry too much about it?

https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/missing-cheatham-county-woman-spotted-at-california-walmart-deputy-says/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=referral&fbclid=IwAR2Ms4ervF2_Z6fUoStD0-lJ-Ceb-XEA5NFKAwnnG7pbaFK5-sg346i_kpg_aem_th_AdIZ9x7jCPl-sytz3rhsUe07dqgqCCqONCgpIe63tvO71agR6qcrCvNcRPty1qQ_NH0&mibextid=SDPelY