Our questioner finds themselves torn between two countries, unable to fully integrate into either. How to adapt, or at least, how to make it work? Can we parlay our totally dissimilar experiences into useful advice? Probably not, but just try and stop us.
Read MoreEpisode 30: It's Still Probably Just You
This week we're continuing our journey into those little peculiarities, those oddnesses that you're not sure you share with the world at large. We'll give you a strong yes or no and put you at ease, as we are wont to do.
Read MoreEpisode 29: Is It Just Me, Or Does Everybody...?
Do you have something that you believe sets you apart from other people, but never found the courage to check? Not to worry, dear probable-freak. We will tell you, en masse, whether it's just you.
Read MoreEpisode 28: Imitating Life
Today's questioner struggles with people copying their style, manner and turn of phrase. These imitators are causing no small consternation, so let's see if we can thwart their designs, shall we?
Read MoreEpisode 27: Do An Art
Our questioner wants to do an art, but in the absence of a wealthy patron or fascinating amphetamine addiction, just struggles to find the time. We can help. Plus: what is art? How do you know if you've done enough art? Will our crude daubings on the walls of this grain silo be enough to secure us a legacy that ratles through the aeons? Let's find out - together.
Read MoreEpisode 26: Working For Twats
Jobs! We've all got them, and sometimes you work for right proper bastards. What to do? We'll tell you! You're probably not going to like it.
Read MoreEpisode 25: Lifehacks
This week's fixee is addicted to lifehacks - those plausible-seeming fixes for minor productivity wobbles that have none of the scientific and spiritual rigour of our own excellent advice. How, then, to wean them off the bad (everyone else) and onto the good (us)? We'll tell you.
Read MoreEpisode 24: Clothes Are Bullshit
Do you struggle to dress yourself? Not like that, dear listener, or you wouldn't have passed the basic requirements exam we set you. No, do you, like today's questioner, struggle to find clothes that fit, suit, live up to the required but ultimately arbitrary standards of society at large, or just don't have holes in the shoulders for no discernible reason? Allow us to help.
Read MoreEpisode 23: Working With Twats
How, we are asked, can one train a colleague when one wishes the very worst diseases of the bum and flaps upon said colleague? We will tell you. We will fix you.
Read MoreEpisode 22: Validity
This week's questioner has a problem (obviously). How to receive the heaping showers of praise that make for a happy life without being an insufferable bellend? We have some profound thoughts on the matter.
Episode 21: Letters to the editor
Local news! Two words to thrill the very soul. And what better typifies the net curtains and "patriotism" of the local discourse than the letters page. This week, we help a listener who's been sucked into the regional paper's heady blend of bypass bickering, bin collection, and gabbling tinpot lunacy. Have you ever felt like writing in to your local rag? Are you a regular writer struggling to stop? Would you like to explore the delights of narcotics, marine life, and a backyard hot tub? We have a little something for everyone this week.
Episode 20: Low-to-middling Anxiety
Anxiety can be quite the tricky beast, so how best to tame it? How best to lock it, howling, in the yard at night? How to keep it from upsetting the neighbours? We go in-depth on this one, with a blend of therapy, philosophy, and dick jokes.
Read MoreEpisode 19: Hanging on the Telephone
Nuisance callers, be they marketers, recruiters, or literally anyone with access to a phone because come on who does that, are a problem. A problem today's questioner has turned to us to fix, which we do with gusto. How much gusto? A lot! It's like you don't understand the concept of gusto.
Read MoreEpisode 18: Recipes for the Clinically Depressed
A constitutional crisis finds us temporarily able to solve Lucy's problem. How do you nourish yourself in the depths of depression? What can you cook without any will to do anything? In this roundtable special, we find out.
Read MoreGo down the corridor. Fuck up the demons.
or, what doesn’t cure you at least passes the time
Hey, and welcome to part two in what is turning out to be an ongoing series (thanks, brain) on how to entertain yourself when your interior headmeats are refusing to be entertained. One of the worst things about depression is the sheer boredom - not just “all of this is awful and I wish I were dead”, but “all of this is awful and I wish I were dead and I can’t even concentrate long enough to forget the whole thing in front of the warm, soothing glow of Netflix”.
But fear not, for there is a form of entertainment that can penetrate your troubled mind and it is called Diablo III. Behold the reasons why it is basically the most perfect blanket with which to swaddle and shroud your misery.
Everything is fucked but you have quite a lot of agency
In Diablo III, if you pay attention to the story (more on that later), it becomes obvious quite early on that the world the game is set in is horribly fucked up, mostly because of demons (and the stuff people do that has to do with demons, like summoning them and making pacts with them and so on). Ominous prophecies, meteors falling from the sky, lots of stuff on fire, demons all over the shop. That kind of thing.
So basically roughly as fucked up as the world we actually live in right now, except with maybe 18-20% more actual demons. And a lot more barrels to smash. The major difference is that in the real world you’re a helpless pawn, more or less entirely at the mercy of giant faceless clusters of fuckery that could squish your entire world without a second thought, and in Diablo III you’re an insanely powerful [barbarian/crusader/witch doctor/demon hunter/monk/wizard] who can fuck up forty demons in two seconds flat and make it look like nothing.
Turns out that a sense of personal agency is quite good for the ol’ self esteem. Who knew.
You really don’t need to pay attention to the story
Especially on subsequent playthroughs (more on replay value later). When I’m as close as I get to being a normal functioning human, I like to play RPGs for the story with near-completionist zeal. Talking to all my followers after every mission, hanging onto every scrap of their wisdom. When I’m a puddling of loathing and despair, I do not give a shit about anything they have to say. JUST STOP TALKING. All of you. Stop it.
Diablo III has a decent enough story for a game that is at heart really quite silly. Blah blah demons blah blah save the world. Some good fantasy nonsense. Including actually interesting bits like the story of the Eirena, the Enchantress companion (more on her later! more on everything later!), who’s been in a magical coma for 1500 years because she had a premonition you might need her help.
But! And this is an important but! You can just totally ignore the plot if you want to. The point of the game is smashing stuff and getting absurdly OP in the process; if you just want those boring fucks to shut up about how sad they are that their world is doomed (I get it! we all get it!), skip the dialogue without remorse.
It’s easy to get going
Diablo III is kind to the casual gamer - the controls are mostly mouse-based, and it’s very smooth and easy to master. The normal difficulty setting is not too challenging at all, and you get a lot of power fairly quickly. Or you can crank the difficulty significantly to find out if frustration even registers as an emotion any more.
It’s a game that requires constant but largely non-challenging attention, which is perfect if you are not doing too well on the cognitive front.
It’s easy to get around
There are times in a person’s life when they value a game with a nice fast obvious transport system, and Diablo III certainly has one of those - castable portals back to your base from wherever you are, waypoints you can jump between instantly on a map, etc. Enemies will respawn when you enter a map area again, but since the point of the game is murdering endless demons it is not really an issue.
If re-entering a route in Pokémon made you have to battle the same trainers all over again (and you weren’t desperately trying to grind your way to the Elite Four), that would be piss-tedious, but in Diablo III these respawns are indistinguishable from playing a new part of the game because smashing demons is the whole game. You can play for hours while barely noticing what’s going on and still claim you did something with your evening.
Also, the levels are broadly linear and it’s really easy to see what bits of the map you’ve uncovered and where you’re supposed to be going, which is great when you’re too sad to remember which way round East and West are (I’m kidding, I can never remember which way round East and West are). There is a time and a place for unstructured exploration and it is not here and it is not now.
Go down the corridor. Fuck up the demons.
Replay value
Diablo III is a game you can play over and over again. That’s sort of the point. Once you finish the whole story for the first time, you get the option to start over...while keeping all the skills and XP you just accrued by playing it through once already. The combat is fluid and simple to begin with, and on top of that the game gives you the chance to get ridiculously beefy.
It’s absurd. I can melt through a wall of skeletons with my ridiculous heat ray, or fuck them up with my slashy slashy spectral swords. Or drop a huge frozen meteor on them. A lot of that sort of thing.
I’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of replays, in that I’ve only played through one of the six classes and I’m only 75% of the way through a second playthrough with that character. If you like doing the same thing over and over again with only small differences each time (yes, hi) it’s an ideal setup. Seriously, it’s great.
The companions are broadly non-irritating
Nothing worse than a game insisting on making you play nice with the other children by pairing you with an absolute fuckwit who gets in your way and spouts nonsense 24/7. Luckily, the companions in Diablo III are a lot better than that. There are only three in total, and no one is too aggravating.
The Templar is a little on the dour side for me (think Sean Bean in Game of Thrones before they done bad things to his neck region), and the Scoundrel kinda hits on a lot of people a lot of the time, which means I tend to stick with the been-asleep-for-1500-years lady (because I empathise with that a lot and also she can turn your enemies into temporary chickens via ancient sorcery).
You get to make a cool banner
Depression is the enemy of creativity, but small achievements are meant to be good for you and making your own extremely awesome banner is definitely a small thing that you can achieve.
In terms of gameplay I am not even sure what the banner does (something about finding your friends?) but I am very glad that I have one and that it is so cool.
As well as getting beefy, you start looking comically epic
In terms of XP, gold, loot and all that, Diablo III is like a normal game on steroids. While epic creep can be a very real problem in games like World of Warcraft (where your gear and items actually matter, to some extent), this lavish approach is in keeping with the Diablo style and setting, and it adds to the fun rather than detracting.
The gameplay style and loot & item philosophy share a common tone: joyful absurdity and frivolous power.
You can play with other people (apparently???)
This is less advice and more just a disclaimer that I have no idea how the PvP or multiplayer works; I am not here to socialise.
That all sounds good, what should I do next?
Seriously just sit back and annihilate a lot of stuff.
I would like to read more about mental health and gaming
Episode 17: Leaving on a Jet Plane
Let's face it, there's a good chance that the country you live in right now is a garbage fire. So what are some alternatives? What can reasonably be said to be the "best" country. Tender listeners, we will tell you that very thing if you'll only let us.
Read MoreEpisode 16: The Curse of Aunt Flo
When you've tried everything that's usually recommended for period pains to no avail, what's left? Let a show whose cast is two-thirds male give you the definitive answer.
Read MoreEpisode 15: Boredom At Work
Every unit of Fungible Productivity Meat, or "worker", experiences times when they simply don't have enough to do. When the boredom is clawing at your skull, what to do? Let us tell you.
Read MoreEpisode 14: Keeping Things Frisky
When the honeymoon period in a relationship ends, it can be hard keeping the spark of pure nasty alive, especially when, like our poor questioner here, you don't have a basement oubliette for "sexy" "captive" "roleplay". What to do, what to do? We'll tell you.
Read MoreEpisode 13: Abusive Relationships
Valentines' Day is upon us, and with it the reminder that not all relationships are good or healthy. We look at some ways of helping people in emotionally unhealthy situations. Two jokes maximum, but there's a good 'un at the end.
Read More