I've got a problem I need to bitch about [v5]

highjacking ad things mean I can't come here on mobile anymore :D

I was playing splatoon with friends, but that fell through because
A. no communication
B. I suck at the game
C. I haven't played since February
D. it was ranked matches
E. everyone we fought was S tier, whereas I am C tier and another was B tier
F. we kept getting knockout losses.
it didn't help that one of my teammate gets angry mood swings very fast and started yelling at me in private.

Wouldn't call that last person a friend.

he's nice most of the time, so he's my friend.

There is nothing like your mother calling you on your lunch break because the brakes on her van went out and they were just worked on yesterday.

Is she okay?

She's fine, just slightly distraught and that's gone away now that the problem has been identified and the part has been ordered. The brakes work better than what she described and I will be driving it down to shop shortly.

Now Ayumi is giving me some grief... Her tailpipe has snapped a mount, allowing the entire pipe after the catalytic to rotate at the back of the catalytic converter. Due to the way the pipe is, over the course of a couple weeks it will rotate until the end of the pipe hits the side of the bed.

It's still adequately supported, so it shouldn't fall onto the road and it wouldn't hit the suspension unless I really hit a bad bump, though it could potentially start leaking from the joint if I don't repair the mount soon. And as much as I occasionally toy with the idea of putting an aftermarket exhaust on Ayumi to tweak her sound, I don't wish to have to do that anytime soon.

After reading all your posts,

I am definitely getting a somewhat newer used car.

I need to rant about the Neo bosses in Bravely Second. >_>

The main thing causing me woe about them is their absolutely titanic defenses. They have 9999 P.Def and M.Def. For the record, you'll tend to have a couple hundred P.Atk or M.Atk, and damage is, at its core, attack minus defense. (There's a lot of other multipliers involved, but zero times eleventy gajillion is still zero.) You can level them down, yeah...but even at around level 12, they'll be doing a pitiful amount of damage to you, but they'll still have at least a thousand defense.


There's plenty of ways to get around this, granted. One of them that isn't viable is using buffs and debuffs. Debuffs can make a stat go down to 75% of its base value at the lowest...which isn't very helpful unless you can already hurt the boss, or are just barely on the cusp of not hurting it. Buffs stack to 150% of base, 200% with Limit Breaker and 250% at max with special move buffs. Again, not very helpful.

The two ways that will actually hurt the boss are through using abilities that pierce Defenses - any magic ability with Pierce M.Def, Harpoon-enhanced physical attacks, Godspeed Strike (which uses Agi * 5 for damage, Takeover (4950 cap at level 99). The second is to use fixed damage attacks, like items.

Both of those require heavy party modification to perform, which is, in my opinion, a massive bad thing for a job-based game like this, especially since a lot of combinations are viable before you try to take on Neo bosses. Heck, even the regular versions of the Neo bosses are take-onable without any modification! Too bad it's a crapshoot as to if you're going to get the Neo boss or a regular boss!

Princess wrote:After reading all your posts,

I am definitely getting a somewhat newer used car.

Meh, "newer" isn't always better. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not good. Had a 1996 Ranger come in a few weeks ago for tires, 60,000 ish on the clock. It was in absolutely fantastic shape with virtually no rust. It had just passed safety inspection and the only thing it needed was a good wash, having been kept in a garage since 2006, or so the dead tags indicated.

If anything, older Rangers are rather robust trucks that can take a lot of abuse and neglect. I see other trucks from Ayumi's generation (1993-1997) everywhere, with a sizable handful from the previous generation (1983-1992). There's one down at the Walmart right now I'm considering buying for parts.

Ayumi's biggest problems are rust in the frame and exhaust, likely from sitting after a salty winter, and old rubber components wearing out. Neither really cause huge concern. She's had a pinhole leak from a power steering line for months now and it's of little concern to me. I have the part to replace it, just not much will in this weather.

Careful research and inspection are your best defense to picking up a lemon (which both my Mom's van and Ayumi are far from). Keep up with the maintenance and your problems should be few. And remember, even brand new cars can blow up leaving the lot.

Truthseeker4449 wrote:

Princess wrote:After reading all your posts,

I am definitely getting a somewhat newer used car.

Meh, "newer" isn't always better. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not good. Had a 1996 Ranger come in a few weeks ago for tires, 60,000 ish on the clock. It was in absolutely fantastic shape with virtually no rust. It had just passed safety inspection and the only thing it needed was a good wash, having been kept in a garage since 2006, or so the dead tags indicated.

If anything, older Rangers are rather robust trucks that can take a lot of abuse and neglect. I see other trucks from Ayumi's generation (1993-1997) everywhere, with a sizable handful from the previous generation (1983-1992). There's one down at the Walmart right now I'm considering buying for parts.

Ayumi's biggest problems are rust in the frame and exhaust, likely from sitting after a salty winter, and old rubber components wearing out. Neither really cause huge concern. She's had a pinhole leak from a power steering line for months now and it's of little concern to me. I have the part to replace it, just not much will in this weather.

Careful research and inspection are your best defense to picking up a lemon (which both my Mom's van and Ayumi are far from). Keep up with the maintenance and your problems should be few. And remember, even brand new cars can blow up leaving the lot.

I was very upset when my dad sold our 1996 Ranger. He was too lazy to teach any of his five children how to drive stick-shift, so he sold it.

I could have bought it cheap, too...

I'm thinking of a Honda Insight because I will be racking up a lot of miles.

shading is its own little type of hell

Princess wrote:I'm thinking of a Honda Insight because I will be racking up a lot of miles.

I would be wary of a used hybrid vehicle. Sure it's great on gas, but when the battery pack goes, it's a very expensive repair. The battery itself usually goes for $3,000 to $5,000 and while it's not too difficult to access, not all shops have the equipment to do it safely and correctly. I almost bought a second-generation Honda Civic Hybrid, but backed out once it became uncertain if I could get it to pass emissions without replacing the battery.

Perhaps you should look into a similar looking vehicle that also gets great gas mileage, the Honda Fit. Personally, I like them. Easy to drive, good driving position from my point of view, and easy to service.

Truthseeker4449 wrote:

Princess wrote:I'm thinking of a Honda Insight because I will be racking up a lot of miles.

I would be wary of a used hybrid vehicle. Sure it's great on gas, but when the battery pack goes, it's a very expensive repair. The battery itself usually goes for $3,000 to $5,000 and while it's not too difficult to access, not all shops have the equipment to do it safely and correctly. I almost bought a second-generation Honda Civic Hybrid, but backed out once it became uncertain if I could get it to pass emissions without replacing the battery.

Perhaps you should look into a similar looking vehicle that also gets great gas mileage, the Honda Fit. Personally, I like them. Easy to drive, good driving position from my point of view, and easy to service.

Thank you for the suggestion! I don't care about looks, I want cheap and efficient