Depends on the build, but I'd say no. I find the cast useful if you want to keep enemies away while you make a slower attack, but some combination of careful positioning, high instant damage and status effects can also work. Quite common for me to not use the cast at all for bosses.

Ted Heath, I believe!

Is it not also counter to the (defunct?) messaging around sticking plaster politics? In my ignorance, GP appointments seem like the sweet spot for landing that message: doing something upstream that's more cost-effective, while very visible given it's the most common NHS interaction (and complaint?)

I thoroughly enjoyed Some Desperate Glory, so this is more than enough of a nudge for me to put The Incandescent on my list! Although I need to read the sequel to the Tainted Cup first.

Contradiction: Spot The Liar is an absolute delight, although admittedly a different beast to the FMV cut scenes in Red Alert 2 (one of the contenders for games I've sunk the most hours into)

Given the state of the official opposition, having Labour MPs who are willing to scrutinise and challenge legislation seems like something that might actually help the government, if only they worked with them, rather than lurching between stubbornness and desperate, last-minute concessions

Having just watched an advert at the cinema showing someone screwing up a recipe and having Gemini tell them how to turn it into something else, I was (1) horrified (but not surprised) at the suggestion of blindly following the instructions (2) pondering: how could you regulate this, if so inclined?

That last line is one of my favourite lines of writing in any video game. The whole game is so full of character without feeling overwrought.

Description becomes prescription becomes (ossified) ideology?

One thing I keep meaning to read up on is Japanese railway companies that (as I (mis)understand it) make their money from real estate / investment around the train stations, and why that model isn't used more widely. In my ignorance, that seems like a natural way to fund rail investment?

Maybe I should come back and atone for my sins.

In meetings where a group has to pick from a bunch of options, I've found reframing the question as "For each option, what would need to be true for it to be a good idea?" to be so much more constructive than the default mode of "Let me explain why my idea is right and yours is wrong"

Having played Dark Souls, Sekiro and Elden Ring, I think Sekiro is the one that is the most consistent and where the fights always feel fair. I still died hundreds of times, but I always knew what I did wrong, rather than feeling wronged by a weird hitbox or some janky attack.

I loved playing this. It really feels like a game that knows exactly what it wants to be, and executes it brilliantly without any filler. I think the only other game I've played that felt as tight is Hades (which is maybe my third favourite game of all time?)

I just read the pasta interview, and it's a delight

My only knowledge of Robert Pattinson comes from the stalker anecdote and this glorious interview fragment

As ever, I have mixed feelings about having a company with a 3 trillion dollar market cap using my free project. Ah well, too late to change the licence now!