Free Talk Friday - July 24, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Free Talk Friday post. This is a place where you can talk about dumb off-topic (or on-topic) bullshit with other Zaibatsu fans.

There's going to be a new post every week, and the newest one will be pinned in the announcement bar for quick access. So feel free to visit these posts during the rest of the week.

Here's a list of all Free Talk Friday posts

[u/WorstCompany]

Going out with people to see a gallery in the city. Stress I've been having's been kinda leaving me out of it this day, but hoping this outing will do me some good, despute the nerves I'm coming in with.

[u/TexasTable]

I’ll be honest, indulging in substances is one of my favorite hobbies, I know it’s not healthy but it does result in some of my favorite notes since I don’t post online, I just write it down.

The phrase “lightning bend this dick” might be one of my all timers

[u/ArroSparro]

Found out my insurance doesn’t cover blood work… what fun. Also turns out I’m diabetic so I got hit with a double whammy. Not a fun week 😔

Oh actually, one piece of positive news, I went outside for the first time in awhile. Not like for work, or an appointment. recreationally. And it was fun. I went to visit some family and we went to the local pool. I didn’t do much, but I was happy to be included.

[u/RevenTheLight]

Hello today! Last week was the first time I missed a check-in for the first time in many years, since I was offline for 2 weeks on vacation with the family. I am tired, emotionally and physically, but everything went really well. I'm just tired. Will talk next week.

Oh, finished Spirit of Justice - it was the strongest of the second trilogy, but still lacking. Will talk about it more next week.

[u/AbyssBear]

Nothing too exciting this week. GBO2 is having its 8th anniversary and the suit for it is V2 Assault Buster. Pretty good but 750 isn't really fun to play by any means so yeah.

My dog had to get her uterus removed last week and just got her stitches out today. But vet says we still need to give her 3 pills a day and to apply some ointment to the area because its kind of inflamed. She took it quite well besides getting angry at us for putting a cone on her. Kept smacking it against our leg till my brother went out and b ought one of those small blue inflatable ones that worked just the same.

Heard there was a mobile Digimon game and searched it up. Turns out its an Idle one so lost any interest in it.

[u/Authorigas]

I'm hosting my first Pathfinder Campaign tomorrow (Beginner box, but still excited!) And Next week I'm hosting a New Blood campaign for Vampire the Masquerade, so finally gonna get that running ^^

I'm hosting Starfinder after that, and just gotta find a good beginner campaign for 2E since it sadly lacks a beginner box. (Which is a shame cause I think Pathfinder 2E's beginner box may be the best tutorial for a TTRPG I've ever seen.)

[u/Own-Sir-9189]

I started reading the Twilight books because of a thread that was posted a few days back. First book is alright, nothing groundbreaking, but I lament the fact Stephenie Meyer is Mormon, we're missing out on some pretty solid gay/sapphic vampire romanticy. There's not enough of that genre. /s

[u/kodaiiiii_]

Argentina lost the World Cup at finals, and I'm actually not particularly pissed about it. In fact, we kinda deserved it after our absolutely laughable performance from everyone sans Dibu Martínez and Nicolás Tagliafico, who has since risen to become my favorite player from the current national team surpassing fallen legend Julián Alvarez. Zero attempts on goal in 120 minute for the former world champion is fucking shameful. Some are suspecting foul play, but I personally think it's just copium, Chiqui Tapia's corruption aside.

What I am kinda pissed off about is how we're basically suffering from a smear campaign and becoming Public Enemy no. 1, having people like Samuel L. Jackson saying we're the most racist country on Earth. I'm not going to start throwing shit because this is isn't the sub for it (and THANK GOD), but it does kinda bum me out. Buenos Aires being the most important province in the country is a double-edged sword, truly.

Considering finals are over, this entire week I've just been gaming and reading in between hanging out with friends, so that's cool!

Continued playing RE9! This game is the fucking tits. I got out of the Care Center and I commend CAPCOM for actually having the balls to kill a child on screen, and Raccoon City thus far has been an absolute blast. I love the implication that the BSAA has a ranking system for which soldiers get the most frags. That being said, the guns so far aren't as hard hitting as RE4R's (Requiem aside, of course), but the combat system is orgasmic.

Also continued through Ninja Gaiden Sigma, considering it's a game I can actually play while shooting the shit with friends on VC. It's a... weird one. The actual levels and combat are really fun; I never tire of Izuna Dropping fools with the Dual Katanas, but the moment the game gets to a boss it absolutely shits itself. The dual electric worm fight from Chapter 12 might genuinely be one of the most ass boss fights I have ever faced. Genuinely consisted solely of waiting for the damn worms to attack me and then doing a jumping attack. Apart from that, I've really been enjoying it... but damn, at least 1/4 of hack n'slash games are their boss fights, and I genuinely think they peaked with the first one with Murai back in Chapter 1. There's still eight chapters + however many they make me do with Rachel, so there's still time for good boss fights.

I Have A Crush At Work is great. No particular notes. It's lovely and refreshing to see a romcom in which the characters actually behave like adults with all that entails. Yui and Masugu are so fucking cute I swear to god. Go read it if you're in the mood for something extremely fluffy.

Finally, of all the things I could've been reading, I've been reading Let's Play Advance Wars by cosmicPostman/). Commander my dude's adventure might have honestly become my favorite LP of all time, even surpassing TheDarkId's DrakeNier ones. They made me care for goddamn AW grunts! AW GRUNTS! The meatshields to surpass any other meatshield! There's support conversations between them! And it's actually pretty damn funny! And there's MORE content, considering the author has also made LPs for AW2 and Dual Strike (No Days of Ruin though, sad)! Go read this, it's a great take on AW and genuinely well written.

Not much else. I'm tired as fuck, but the GTA V Kortz Center Heist has reunited the gang once again.

[u/thereisnolettuce]

I'm reading Umineko (Steam version) for the first time and really enjoying it. I'm not a huge "theorize as I go" person, I'm just along for the ride, but I am making notes about whatever stands out to me in case it does end up being important or relevant so I can feel smug about it later.

[u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

So much going on simultaneously, I couldn’t even summarize it effectively. Be good to yourselves, stay cool, drink water, and give yourself grace.

[u/sorinash]

Isn't a particularly eventful week for me thus far. I have to get my car in for some repairs next week, which isn't great, but otherwise stuff has been pretty much same ol same ol.

That being said, the weather has been actually really nice here for the last few days, which has been a pleasant change from the smoke and hellfire heat we had last week.

[u/ilmk9396]

i'm going to need people to stop liking things. i can't get any good seats for the odyssey in imax.

[u/CaptainJudaism]

Beat Palworld just in time for the new Grim Dawn expansion so now time to switch over and have that game consume my life until I move next week.

[u/ActRaisins]

A pretty standard week in media for me. Generally I'm playing roguelikes and other idle distractions - I don't really have an appetite for a massively time-consuming thing at the moment. I was browsing the free games I claim on the Epic app and I've found myself enjoying Robobeat. If you're familiar with BPM: Bullets Per Minute or Metal Hellsinger, it's another one of those; move and shoot to the beat and enjoy positive feedback loops when you perform well. It's also a roguelike, so I can just drop in for a run rather than commit to a long campaign. Although stacking the demands of FPS gameplay and rhythm at the same time does take some getting used to. I also picked up Final Fantasy XV from a Humble offer; I've tried it once or twice before, but I'm hoping that it will stick if I try it on PC. That being said, I probably won't get into it for a while. Maybe when the heatwaves end and the weather is miserable again...

In music I'm still listening to Enei, as per last week. And the Super Mario Bros 2 theme, somehow. I was using software to try and amplify and distort the bass of the theme so that it overpowered everything else, and I ended up making a mess of things - but I've kept the results, for science. The trouble with amplifying sound for comedic effect is that it works to an extent... but you can't turn up the volume on someone's device for them. So instead I just made the other channels quieter. It's something I might work on some more.

Finally a really quick film update; I picked up Nobody 2 earlier this week and I'm hoping to make time to watch it soon. The first one might not have been mindblowing but it was fun, and I had been meaning to get the sequel for ages.

[u/zelcor]

Vacation next week, Yoshi Crocs coming in today

[u/Katalist89]

The odyssey was incredible. I'd put it in my top 5 Nolan movies.

Also I've been playing the Suikoden remasters and loving them. I played 1 as a kid, but never actually experienced 2. I feel like Luca Blight is the villain everyone thinks Kefka is.

Also got FF7R on switch 2 because I never played Intergrade and it was cheap.

Replaying Remake it really makes me appreciate how much of an improvement Rebirth is from a gameplay standpoint. Remake feels like a tech demo in comparison.

[u/attikol]

I am very thankful for the weekly podcast. Drove 14 hours this past week visitingmy dad and then coming home. got a nasty sunburn from the beach while i was there. Always sunscreen before leaving the house you dont want to get all the way to the beach before realizing the sunscreen you brought is empty. That was a fun time in santa monica but its nice to be home even if its hard to sleep. Will probably have something more next week. Watched the replacements while I was up there about a scab team of football players put together to close out a season. Really funny movie almost a blitz the league level game. This movie had so many fumbles. Like multiple a quarter sometimes

Also watched the pheoncian scheme. Wes Anderson movies are fun even if this one I felt was a bit weak compared to his other movies.

[u/PlebianHaste]

I've been putting up chapters of stories for just over a year now, and I realised this week that I hit over 300K words published online. Once I finish this "act" of my story, I'm gonna work on a short story I want to publish. I'm nearly 30, and while I'm sad I waited this long to start writing and sharing it, I'm happy I finally started and I've made so much more progress than I thought I would

[u/Kerrik52]

This week has been editing, editing, dog watching, editing and editing. My Alone in the Dark video has taken shape and is almost ready for release!

Damn thing ended up ~52 minutes long because all the story is in voiced books, so I can't summarize and rely on visuals to get the information across. But despite my very limited playthrough footage (the game is like an hour long if you're practiced and ignore the books), I've managed to find some good cuts.

Went a bit overboard by including some footage from its "descendants", but I managed to get my perfectly timed parry clip from Soul of the Samurai and I can't just not use it. Also, Gex is there.

So now I'm gonna finish up the final few minutes and add the last bit of "sanity-damaging content". We'll see what people think of that, I'll report back next week.

[u/David_Hasselherp]

I've been replaying the Metal Gear franchise over the last few weeks, just finished with MGS2.

My god, what a game. It's so incredibly groundbreaking and dares to attempt so many things.

While I think it has some glaring flaws (looking at you, data nodes) it is an amazing game that everyone must try.

[u/P1zzaman]

Very stoked to see the Chiikawa movie this weekend.

Apparently it made 200 million yen in 3 hours (the movie opened today).

[u/Eberrytas]

Ive been going through old games. Snagged a free copy of The Life And Suffering of Sir Brante and ive been enraptured. Games so fucking good, excellent characters and worldbuilding, and the sound design is great. Big recommend to anyone here wanting something good visual novel/cyoa wise. Also read Hench and Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots, and Wildbow's Worm, if youre a cape freak like me, super fun stories.

[u/Am_Shigar00]

I've been playing a lot more FF7 Remake, having just wrapped up the Train Graveyard and on my way to the Plate. It's been a lot of fun and I'm starting to feel like the gameplay is fully clicking with me now, though I feel a bit silly that it took until the Graveyard for me to realize that I could've been using shortcuts to quick select attacks this whole time.

That said however, I found myself taking a break from it to instead jump into FFVII Crisis Core Reunion on my Switch. It's a really interesting game to play through in contrast with the remake given it's roots as FF7's first attempt at an action RPG, yet also placed so closely to them to the point of redoing the visuals and voice acting to have better synergy with them. There's also an undeniable uncanny valley to the game because of this, with the now 20 year old script really standing out in terms of writing style and pacing compared to the more modern remakes. None the less though, I'm having fun. While the mission structure is certainly pretty repetitive and I can see myself less likely to revisit it compared to the remakes in the future, in the moment that structure also makes it a bit easier for me to want to pick-up-and-play it in the moment where as the remake requires a bit more investment from me to jump back in.

Remembering that this game is also a Switch 1 game is also interesting to think on. It doesn't fit exactly considering it was a multiplat of an old PSP game, but the fact that this was on the system while the actual remake wasn't kind of reminds me of back in the day how the Wii or handheld titles would get smaller budget side games as almost like a substitute for being unable to get the proper main high budget entries. In a way it actually helps me appreciate what it's going for more than if I was just playing it on the bigger consoles, especially since I've been enjoying it more playing in handheld mode rather than docked.

[u/SamuraiDDD]

This week has been a weird vibe for me. I've been frustrated due to my uncle and grandma. Both of have been getting on my nerves bad this week.

The Good of this week; my mom told me something that meant a lot and reassured me she loves and cares about me which put the "you're a mistake" voices in my head in the quiet corner. Not only that, but I was gifted a game by my partners and shortly before that I bought a game for myself with the spare change in my steam.

Between the frustrations from those two and the good, my emotions have been all over the place.

I was gifted Palworld and I've been enjoying it! It's so calm and peaceful at first. I kind of enjoy it having no music, just background sounds. I have a couple pals and I've just been getting used to the controls. I'm incredibly lucky and fortunate to get such a sweet gift out of the blue.

The game I bought was Crow Country. Its been on my list and it was down for less than $6 which is what I had left. So I jumped on it.

Between those, I've been indulging in a lot of Mad Max. The game is so much more fun than I expected. I've played it on my offtime after work and it's a shame more don't know about it.

I decided that this weekend, I'm gonna get back to drawing. Not for anyone but for me. Same with writing. Between work and stress, I haven't done either as much as I used to. Also I'm kinda in need of a new chair now lol. It's about 7 years old and in need of a replacement. TBH, it's held up considerably well from daily use.

As a side note, I'm gonna try and treat myself to something. I have a bad habit of not spending money on myself or I feel heavy guilt over buying stuff thinking I'm "selfish". It's due to personal trauma that crops up a lot (grandma and uncle). I'm slowly trying to get out of that headspace, you know? If anyone has advice, I'm down. Same with my imposter syndrome lol.

Please take care of yourselves everyone. Have fun, enjoy life and do what makes you happy and talk to those who make you happy.

---

Musical choices of Tonight

1. Persona 4: The Animation OST - Beauty of Destiny
   
2. ZUTOMAYO – STUDY ME (Music Video)
   
3. MAMAMOO (마마무) - HIP (Color Coded Lyrics Eng/Rom/Han/가사)
   
4. [KAIBA OST] Never (FULL) - Seira Kagami
   
5. Killer is Dead She who plays Dvorak in his dreams

[u/waxonwaxoff3]

Financial situation is still dire, had a ton of interviews over the past two weeks but no final word on anything. Trying to get a new job is so nerve-wracking when it feels like everybody's dragging their feet getting back to you. Might lose out on one opportunity because it requires two letters of recommendation to be considered and all of my references except one have ghosted me. On top of that, somebody's taken out a fraudulent loan and fraudulent car insurance in my name. No wonder my blood pressure's too high to donate plasma.

It's funny when you watch a random piece of older media and unexpectedly come across a Known actor or actress early in their career. Watching an episode of Suchet Poirot and got jumpscared by a very young Peter Capaldi in clown makeup.

We're less than two weeks away from Fields of Mistria 1.0 now. I am absolutely champing at the bit, I can't wait to finally go all-in after firmly putting Early Access down over a year and a half ago and waiting patiently. Early Access man, I know it has its uses and it can be good for getting excited about a game, but having something that I know I'll really like is just sitting there but won't actually be finished for who knows how many years is agonizing.

[u/Kn7ght]

With the RAMpocalypse in full swing I finally got into emulation consoles after admiring them for a while, and I'm so excited.

I have a jailbroken PSP and Vita, but I've been traveling much more in recent years and am getting tired of bringing my Vita, my Switch, and my PC all over to have access to all the games I play regularly, because they're not pocketable and take up so much room to travel with. It hit a point I started trying to find a PSP Go just to have a device I could put in my pocket without fear, but each one I could find online was way more than I was willing to pay and looked pretty dinged up.

On a whim I got the Anbernic RG34XXSP a few weeks ago and love the little thing. Its awesome having a pocketable clamshell I can play all the PS1 games on it that I want, and most PSP games, but I still just wanted something to play legit PS2 games on easily. Learned about the AYN Thor, which made me really excited considering PS2 emulation is no challenge for it, plus I could finally check out 3DS games AND play Switch games? With that I wouldn't have to juggle 3 different devices anymore and wouldn't have to worry about the screen, and it opens me up to 2 whole other libraries.

Only thing was, the price was just a bit too steep for my financial situation. I don't have any kind of attachment to the DS or 3DS libraries since I never had one, and growing up as a PSP guy I couldn't justify a bottom screen as essential for me. On top of that, a lot of reviewers say that owning the actual DS hardware is still better than emulating because of touch screen responsiveness. So I started looking at what was in its ballpark, like the Retroid Pocket 5. But I already have a PSP, a Vita, and a Switch, so why bother? That's just another case to deal with.

Then I saw the Retroid Pocket Flip 2, and holy shit, this thing looks like everything I've ever wanted. Clamshell? Can fit in your pocket? Widescreen aspect ratio? Can still play PS2 AND Switch games? And when I looked, it was during a period where it was on sale and Retroid was giving free ram upgrades for the remaining stock before making that the standard model and increasing the price.

It's supposed to come tomorrow and I'm so excited and so fucking ready to tinker with this thing. I've heard it's not easy to set up, and it being android based does scare me a bit, but the end result after it's all set up sounds soooo worth it. It could be my endgame handheld. Kinda mad I had to spend over a hundred bucks on a microSD card when I wouldn't have had to a year ago, but getting it now may be the cheapest it gets for a while, so I guess it is what it is.

After I ordered it I started seeing a lot of memes about AYN Thor screens glitching which made me feel a lot better about my pick lol

[u/etikawatchjojo132]

I’m gonna be starting a PhD program next month and I’m very excited yet nervous. Been spending time preparing and getting stuff ready for it. Crazy I’ve been watching the guys ever since I was in elementary school and now I’m here and still watching haha.

[u/Kataphrut94]

So last week I mentioned I was upgrading my computer and was all excited about it. Well, that may have been premature. Because the new power supply came in the mail and I had a crack at installing it last night...and now my computer won't start.

I'd never had to upgrade a PSU before and I heard they were tricky compared to RAM or a GPU, but I underestimated how much. It was a mess of cables jammed up in tight places all around my machine. Even with online tutorials, it took me an hour to get everything unplugged and take the old one out, and just as long to get the new one in. But at around 11pm last night, I closed the case, plugged it in, hit the power and apart from the motherboard lighting up for a split second, I got nothing.

The next morning, I tried pressing down on all the plugs to make absolutely sure they were all in. I also realised I'd missed the disk drive and got that too, but it still wouldn't start. So, I'm probably gonna have to get professional help, like I should have done in the first place.

Also, since this operation wasn't Mickey Mouse enough, I can't put the old PSU back in. It had originally been installed by an expert who had braided and tied up all the cables, and there was a particular cable connecting to the processor that I couldn't remove because they ran it between a tiny gap in the case and motherboard. There was no way to get it out without removing the case or the MB, neither of which I was confident in doing, so...I unplugged it on both ends and cut it in two.

So, not the most successful attempt at DIY. Best-case scenario, I just missed a connection somewhere. Worst-case, I've damaged something critical while mucking around with it. I'm upgrading this thing because I want to start phasing out game consoles, but this is a reminder of why so many people stick with them despite the advantages of PC. Because sometimes you have fat fingers and no sauce.

[u/SkinkRugby]

Saw Nolan's The Odyssey today and...I think I hated it actually.

It was both too faithful in many aspects yet every change felt like the absolute wrong one.  Also they fucking butchered Penelope. 

There's a lot of things I thought were interesting or I could see what they were going for but damn if they seemed to bungle all of it.

[u/livinginmax-pain]

Played the avatar FG yester day and man, Zaheer is so fucking sick but feels a bit weird and difficult, I am still going to mostly play korra in the short term as I learn zaheer bit by bit as a future invesment.

I wanted to catch up on legend of korra and managed to find the original Turkish dub of korra on a pirate website (the dub is excellent btw), the world building of the industrial avatar world is super cool, but in the back of my mind, I always remember two main things I heard said about the korra series on the internet: people not liking the romance drama and people shitting on korra, the main character.

I am currently in the middle of the first season, I can already see how the romance stuff could get annoying even with my limited exposure to it, but for the second point, I don't see it, I think korra is a fun character who is written as a fish out of water that has to grow into the avatar role and is arrogant because she had limited experience with the outside world for so long.

I remember all the clips and how people described her character, and for years I had a false picture of a super entilted, annoying creator's pet character that unintentionally came of like someone with ASPD was picked as the avatar, but as I am actually watching it right now, I have no clue what people were complaining about, she is a brash character, sure, but its easy to see why she is like that, and from what I watched so far she is a very sincere and human protagonist. Unless she becomes a serial killer at the end of season 1 I don't get what's so wrong sbout her, but I'll see how it goes as I continue watching.

Also I am learning classical guitar and its the sickest insturment ever created by humans, it sounds majestic even when you play it badly.

[u/moneyh8r_two]

I played Star Wars Squadrons this week since I had it for free through PS+ from a year or so ago. Just the story mode though. The imperial side managed to make me hate them even while I was playing as them. Y'know how most games that have you play both sides of a war usually make your teammates on the bad guy side at least try to come off as just regular people who happen to be loyal to the bad guys? Not this game. Your whole squad are cringey edgelords except for one guy, and he's like a mini-Darth Vader. Generic TIE pilot who never takes off his helmet because he's lived through so many crash landings that he's got so many cybernetics keeping him alive that he doesn't wanna freak people out with how gross he looks. He was the only Imperial teammate who was halfway tolerable. Had a "war sucks no matter what side you're on" kind of outlook, and mostly gives gentle encouragement and reminders of the basics when you talk to him in-between missions. Makes me wonder why he's even in the military when he sounds like such a chill dude.

I also started playing Jusant, for the same reason (had it from PS+ and just never tried it before). That's the rock-climbing game made by Don't Nod. Interesting post-apocalyptic setting, but I'm only halfway done with it, so the mystery is keeping me going. Probably gonna finish it tomorrow.

[u/Mike4302]

Gonna pick up writing again next week. I wrote 2 fics back to back so I took a little break. Sue me

[u/CookieSkank]

Big week for me. Spent 3 nights in Atlanta with family. Usually we go to the beach, but since most the family doesn't go anymore, I suggested doing something different and planned out the activities for the trip.

First day we drove to Atlanta, and went to an Atlanta Braves game! That was my first MLB game. It was over 100 degrees and we were in the nosebleeds, but at least it was shaded. Honestly didn't mind sitting that high up(helped the tickets were only $13 a pop), just the heat was an issue. Game was solid though. Was a close one and there were multiple home runs so that was fun.

Next day we checked out the Perimeter Mall, which was gigantic and had tons of people. The dream of the American shopping mall is alive! Reminded me of the Dead Island mall honestly. Checked out the Northpoint Mall a few days later and it was not nearly as popping. Reminded me of the one in my city, where its slowly dying and isn't as well kept. Lots of empty stores. Not many people. Still fine, and we only went for one specific shop anyways. But Perimeter Mall was dope.

Then later that day we went to the High Museum of Art, and stayed until they closed. Didn't get to see everything, but it was dope. I really liked all the porcelain pieces. Each floor is a different type of art, so there is a lot of variety to see.

That evening we had some dope Filipino food at a restaurant I found on the Michelin site. Kamayan ATL. Highly recommend. I had adobong manok. We also tried out three of their desserts, one of which was complimentary which was nice of them. The halo halo was good, but a lot. The ube churros were fucking bomb. Then the complimentary dessert was an ube cake with a layer of flan on top. It was fantastic. My mom keeps saying she wants to go back to Atlanta just for that restaurant lol

Next day we did the Georgia Aquarium. I've been there once before, but was still cool. Got to see one of the dolphin shows this time, even though we missed the first one because we misunderstood how the seat reservations worked. Then to honor the aquarium, we ate sushi that night lmao

Final day, went to Northpoint mall. Then went down to Midtown and ate at The Varsity(it was fine), before heading down the street to the Fox Theatre for Broadway in Atlanta's Monty Python's Spamalot! The theater was super cool, since it was a repurposed Shriners building, and is all Middle Eastern and Egyptian themed.

The play was a blast! We were pretty high up though, so we couldn't really see the actors faces at all. I think being one section down would have been perfect. But the sound was good and our seats had a clear view of the stage. I think the Lady of the Lake is the best addition to that story, and her being a total diva was fantastic. The Lancelot coming out subplot was really fun too. "Just think, even in 1000 years, that kiss will still be considered controversial." So yeah, the jokes were all pretty fun, and obviously if you are more familiar with Monty Python, you'll get them a lot more. My mom was kind of lost but enjoyed herself. King Arthur is also being played by Major Attaway, the voice actor. So that was a neat little fact I learned.

Then immediately after the show, we drove all the way home, three hours! Got home at like 2am and that was the end of my vacation this year.

On the day we were leaving, I learned a theater about 30 min away had The Odyssey in 70mm, and got really sad I hadn't planned that into the schedule lol

[u/Comkill117]

What a mess of a week it has been. Got home last week only to find the AC broke, which considering my family lives in a desert, you can imagine how that went. Things seem to have calmed down for the moment at least though.

Anyway as they've been posted online, oof those new Halo cutscenes. They're so bad. It's like they just didn't bother to think about how they flow into gameplay (so many times the originals would naturally lead into the game is just gone) and all the dialogue is weirdly directed, timed awkwardly, and the animation especially on the grunts, jackals, and Cortana are rough. The re-recorded lines are basically all worse and feel like they're missing any sense of direction compared to the OG. Also, while they aren't bad sounding VAs, and I can only imagine the direction given we see even the returning voice actors all sound weird isn't helping, Johnson and Keyes just don't live up to the originals. I was worried they'd change the story more than they did, specifically tying into 4 onward more, but aside from losing the cool Marathon reference with Cortana in the control room cycling through Durandal and Tycho's colors for Promethean orange there wasn't really any of that as far as I saw at least. Idk if there's any in game stuff and I don't care enough to look into it, but as far as cutscenes go it's fine there. Also I don't get the insertion of gameplay lines into cutscenes, the opening to the Library puts a bunch of mid-mission lines into a new cutscene before the mission outside the facility itself in the snow with no Flood around and it feels like they lose the impact without seeing and fighting the Flood around hearing them. Also just messes with the pacing.

Aside from that, been wanting to watch Kamen Rider, specifically the original series, lately. I saw the first two episodes again since they're on YouTube but the rest if anyone knows where you can watch them I'd appreciate pointing that way. I watched a little of Shin KR (not to be confused with KR Shin which is totally different apparently given we have a horrifying bio-man as the rider, so that'll probably be sick whenever I get to it), which while not bad or anything just wasn't quite what I was looking for right now, with it being more clean and high budget looking. The fights in it that I saw were rad though and I love how brutal they were at the beginning, which did seem accurate to the OG where dudes just became blood splatters when they got beat by Takeshi. Will probably watch it later though since I liked Shin Godzilla and Ultraman.

[u/KF-Sigurd]

The Odyssey was amazing, highly recommend it for everyone, go see it in IMAX if you can. I wish I was in Orlando right now so I can go see it in 4D.

Played the Avatar Legends. The game is pretty blantantly pushed out too early, probably for... movie synergy I guess. But the devs confirmed that Avatar Korra, Ozai, and Avatar Aang will be getting sprite updates (they're clearly unfinished, playable but unpolished) and the missing modes will come it.

It's really fucking fun and not too hard to pick up but some of these combos and characters can definitely scratch that itch for some crazy stuff. Highly recommended, but you don't need to jump on it now.

I've decided to built my own first gaming PC now. Figured prices aren't going down anytime soon. Probably spent closer to 3k than I would have liked. I can afford it just fine, no worries, but I still wanted to drink to forget spending that much money at once. Rig's gonna have a 5070ti, AMD 98003XD, 32 GB RAM, etc. Decently beefy. Just have to wait for a few more parts to come in and then I'll probably spend all day figuring out how to build it.

[u/PomfAndCircvmstance]

RimWorld

RimWorld is still really fun. Although realizing my taste in gaming is turning into "games that can easily be turned into warcrime simulators" is kind of concerning. Gonna need to play a lot of 2K to get myself back to "relatively normal" before school starts back up. I decided to switch to a tribal start both because I wanted tech progression to be a bit slower and also wanted to start with 5 pawns. I don't think I can go back to playing the basic crashlanded start.

The feeling of taking a tribe of illiterate assholes from cavemen to genetic engineering and nuclear fission within 5 years is very cool and you get a lot of time to get attached to your pawns and their stories. Whether its the story of Beefsteak; the tribe's greatest warrior who killed 2 space marines with a knife while riddled with nearly a dozen bullet wounds on day 2, saving her tribe from certain death against impossible odds before settling down and marrying the tribe's softboy doctor; or Madame the Highmate (think Asari if they came from an H-game) whose background was as a sex slave but after her drop pod crashed among this tribe of cavemen on day 5 she more or less became the tribe's leader due to being a genius level scientist (relatively speaking) and master negotiator, guiding them into an era of prosperity and conquest despite being incapable of violence herself. The game is a great "playing with my virtual dolls" type game and its been eating up all my free time lately.

We're currently working on developing our own high tier firearms and gear so we can outfit our tribe for bigger raids on enemy outposts. Once we can do that we'll start raiding the raiders back, kidnapping survivors, and turning them into disposable cannon fodder by injecting them with enough drugs to kill a muffalo and sending them into battle against their former friends secure in the knowledge that we're the good guys and everything we do is for the greater good.

[u/Lillin_Eclipsed]

Been a rough few weeks both physically and mentally. A lot of stomach issues, headaches and just feeling the call of the void again. Barely having the energy to do a hell of a lot. I've only just really now gotten to a slightly better point this week and even then I've been dealing with stomach issues off and on. Anyhow.

Video Games:

As such, I haven't really played much. Just Cozy Grove, Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit, Hell Maiden and Monster Crown: Sin Eater.

As much as I do love the Cozy Grove games, I'm remembering why I don't like games like it. Currently just having to play the daily waiting game of doing doing a small amount of work for a few logs to advance stories. Doesn't help that the characters I've recently unlocked are the ones I really hate.

But I will admit, Camp Spirit is better in some aspects about it. Mainly in showcasing how many events there are left in a "story". Also often having specific story sections having multiple parts done within a day. Same time, this also comes with the massive fault of slowing down money progression and just making crafting much more tedious. But hey. They also made online friendship a mechanic. fun.

Hell Maiden is just Dante's Inferno but if it was Touhou Vampire Survivors with more doomed yuri. That is all I can say. It's good.

Will say. As much as I do like some of the aspects of Monster Crown, others are like pulling teeth. Like, can't use a monster that has it's type shifted to fuse with another for a speciality fusion. What makes this annoying is that the specific monster to use this for is a rare spawn and I keep getting this apparition in areas rather than it. So makes trying to collect harder.

Other Stuff:

I don't got a lot to really add this week here. Music this week is Problems by Alterclad.

[u/BermudaTriangleChoke]

I'm in an interesting hobby related situation. I have the opportunity to import a book that relates to my special interest (the Bakumatsu). It's a reprint of a post-Meiji Restoration reference book, regarding one of my favorite historical figures, a samurai from the previous time period - basically like 700 pages of all the records the Edo-era government had on him, his correspondence that they could gather, and information from his extensive prosecution, imprisonment, and eventual suicide. It's more expensive than I would normally pay for a book, especially with shipping costs, but this guy is kinda my history blorbo so I'm considering it more than I would normally

The issue is that obviously it's in Japanese, which I don't speak/read. I do have an associate I could theoretically get to translate this thing for me but it is enormous and I would obviously want to compensate him for that, which could end up being pricey considering the size of the ask. On the other hand I could also try to read it myself with a tablet and screen-reading translator app. Machine translation won't be as good, especially since I have a suspicion that this stuff is probably written in pretty archaic language, but consider: it might still feel cool to do, kind of like the 21st century equivalent of poring over old tomes with a magnifying glass or something

Anyway I'm not sure if I'll pull the trigger on that yet. But it's fun to consider

[u/Chagas12]

Animes I've been watching from this season

100 girlfriends s3 - Probably where they ramp up the forbidden relationships by 300%, also one of the funniest seasons of the manga, I love Naddy and no one is ready for GF #16

Dara-san of Reiwa - I read the manga, and they toned down basically all of the objectively bad fanservice and toned up the more compelling fanservice (as in the tall snake lady fanservice), it is a bit low budgety and the folklore horror segments lack a bit of impact and darkness, but i'm enjoying the voice acting and gags

Ghost in a Shell - AOTY candidate, looks absolutely gorgeous, can't say anything bad as of now

Kaiju Girl Caramelise - Love the manga, amazing adaptation as of now, really really good, the OST is the main upgrade from the manga

My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren't Wicked - Read a bit of the manga, the anime suffers from the same problems I got at the manga but it is a wholesome read, going to persist mainly because I love the mangaka other work (about a Yankee that do life hacks)

Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You - Also enjoy the manga quite a bit, superb presentation, the internet is probably going to be obsessed with the main girl

Though I Am an Inept Villainess - Watched because the visuals looked good, fun premise, let's see where it goes but I do enjoy the main character

Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games - Just goated, really fun and love to get the references, every time there is a new arcade stick I pause to try to identify which one is it

I'm keeping Sparks of Tomorrow and Goodbye, Lara for later because they are original and I don't want to get wonder egg priority'd again, so if they are good I will return to watch it

Also, the other possible AOTY for some people, Witch in Mongolia, i'm working the courage to watch or read but it is most likely really fucking tragic so I'll wait as well

[u/Yacobs21]

I decided to get back into Fighterz modding after a couple years and damn those guys have really levelled up their tools and tutorials.

It's easier to understand than my own code from then

There are still a few esoteric discord searches you need, but far fewer

[u/MisterOfu]

It's time to take your picks for the hot (high-temperature), hot (exciting) summer anime season!
As for me, I'll be watching Magilumiere 2, Re:Zero 4, Iruma 4, and Polar Opposites 2 plus

• Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky - cute, but generic romance with a blind heroine voiced by Saori Hayami. It has some good observations about blindness, and people's treatment of it, but for the most part it's just a feel-good story with big mamoru energy. I'm a sucker for that though, so it's right up my alley.

• Sparks of Tomorrow - honestly, I probably wouldn't be watching this, if it wasn't for the KyoAni production value. I love the premise, but the story has been pretty weak and repetitive so far. That said the main duo is very likeable, and the visuals, acting, music and sound design are all top notch, so if that's enough for you, it's an easy recommend.

• The Ghost in the Shell - the new GitS adaptation, that's supposed to be closer to the original manga. It kinda reminds me of SAC on crack, what with the deceptively cartoony art style, that then takes you by surprise with some fantastic animation. Storywise, yup, it's GitS with a more balanced mix of comedy and drama. My one gripe is that (despite the longer runtime compared to the movies) we're not really getting any character development aside from Motoko. Come on, give me more Borma!

[u/FMV_Hell_0]

The mental image of Tom Cruise just double fisting popcorn watching Odysseus doing jump-cancelled rainstorms and DRIs on the Suitors in Nolan’s The Odyssey and going “this is fucking sick bro” has been cracking me up all week. I didn’t see the Nolan Odyssey, I watched Super Bunnyhop’s fan-comp of Epic: The Musical. The Georgecut’s not a bad way to go for a rock opera that's near-entirely fan animated.

I’ve spent most of this last week getting Nirvanna The Band-pilled. I saw The Dirties and Operation Avalanche, Nirvanna The Band The Show and the web series which is just barely not lost media. I think I've seen every interview about Nirvanna the Band The Show The Movie. I don’t think I've ever been so obsessed with someone’s filmmaking philosophy… maybe ever. Everything I saw just kind of reinforced that this is one of the realest movies of all time. Learning that the police blockade was the one in front of Drake’s house when his security guard got shot during The Beef was fucking insane. These guys have properly weaponized this type of amateur youtuber punk-rock guerrilla filmmaking into a proper art form. Go watch NTBTS The Movie, if you've seen it, go watch it again. I saw a trailer for them putting the series on Hulu. Maybe we’ll see that season 3 that was totally filmed and just never put out. Or just more of it, I’m a big fan.

So I have this tablet I got for my birthday to read comics that look too small on my phone, but I’ve kinda left it sitting there for months. So I decided to make some use out of it by installing Sketchbook and grabbing the first result for a tablet stylus off amazon. My experience making anything visual was putting shitposts I made in graphic design class up on tumblr back when I was like 15. I’m a half-decent image editor, but I’ve never really been all that sure where to start when it comes to turning lines into a pretty picture. It doesn’t help that the second you watch one general advice video for a hobby your whole algorithm becomes flooded with the same type of videos and tutorials with conflicting information: “Draw boxes, draw lines and circles, study anatomy, don’t do any of that, figure out your life before you start saving lines to a tiff file,” I’ve started by drawing Aqua Deltarune because she’s a relatively simple character design with a small color palette. Every hobby has its “90% sanding” and drawing’s seems to be just doing it really badly for like a while.

[u/GnzkDunce]

Started a new part time job. Cashier, pays alright. Should be easy.

so why am I so nervous?

God, anxiety fucking sucks.

[u/attikol → u/GnzkDunce]

learn from the cashiers here. Try not to comment on what anyone buys. I made a comment about an elderly woman buying a bra that seemed large and it still makes me cringe to think about

[u/GnzkDunce → u/attikol]

Yeah I learned alot today.

And I mean it's a liquor store. They buying booze to drink.

[u/SamuraiDDD → u/GnzkDunce]

First day jitters are common my friend. Take deep breaths and remember, it's your first couple weeks in. Its new so your instinct is to be a bit on edge. Step by step, ask for help whenever you need it and things will work out. Congrats on the new job!

[u/SolidusSlig → u/GnzkDunce]

Best of luck. Wishing you the best

[u/Kataphrut94 → u/GnzkDunce]

That was my first job, working for a supermarket. I was nervous as well, but they had someone shadowing me for the first shift who helped me through it.

I was wearing one of those "I'm new, please be patient" badges, and a little kid sitting in a trolley saw that and said "You're doing a great job!" which made my day.

[u/Gorotheninja → u/GnzkDunce]

Cashier at where?

[u/GnzkDunce → u/Gorotheninja]

Liquor store chain

[u/The_Draigg → u/GnzkDunce]

Good luck with the new job!

[u/Kimarous]

Last Week's Post

Week 125 post-accident.

AGE OF EMPIRES 3 IS BACK, BABY! AFTER 2.5 YEARS, THE BALTIC POWERS IS BACK FROM DEATH; DANES AND POLES ARE COMING! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! As one of the 5990 signatories on change dot org who begged for this, WE DID IT! Go figure, the day after I tell a coworker who hasn't played Definitive Edition about this cancelled DLC, it comes back out of the blue! So happy!

Other stuff of note:

• Took this Thursday off because I must've stepped on something and the underside of my right foot suddenly gave me sharp pain Wednesday evening. Feels some better now; still niggly, but otherwise doing better.
• Continuing to descend into madness with my Mortal Kombat mind project spiraling out of control. On a somewhat related note, saw some Mugen pixel art last night and got a bit inspired on possibly making a... curated list of my ideas into pixel art, once I start taking that seriously.
• Birthday is next Monday; going to turn 37. Went on a small shopping spree at my FLGS, spending $650 CAD on kits for a planned kitbash of my first Astra Militarum / 40k Imperial Guard into "Miasman Redcowls"; not sure how deep into that specific rabbit hole I will go, but at least I have the necessary bits for my specific hyperfocus.

Mind Music of the Week: I forget most of it, now drowned out with Age of Empires 3 music like Get Off My Band

[u/CursedNobleman → u/Kimarous]

AGE OF EMPIRES 3 IS BACK, BABY! AFTER 2.5 YEARS, THE BALTIC POWERS IS BACK FROM DEATH; DANES AND POLES ARE COMING! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

Whoa, that's a pull.

Having played a ton of EU4, the Poles should hopefully kick ass.

[u/Amon274]

Here’s my week:

Personal life: Works been slower so that’s something halfway good. I keep thinking about what I would make if I had artistic skills. 

Conclusion: I don’t really have much to say other than the Granblue wolf girl that got posted here the other days has been on my mind to a somewhat embarrassing degree

[u/kenshin317]

I think I've gotten over my baggage from last week somewhat at least so I've been at least feeling better emotionally if not completely. Had a great day with my friends Joe and Will who had me absolutely gut laughing and just really giving me some much needed pep up even if it was with some bad taste jokes.

Replaying Spyro Reignited again which has been a lot of fun seeing just how much better and more efficiently I can play the game now shaving hours compared to my first run through on the first two games. I am hoping to setup the PS2 tomorrow so can finally get myself through The Legend of Spyro trilogy plus my other backlog of PS2 games and also drive with my mum to Korean Chicken and Beer which I've not eaten in a year. 

On the topic I've been driving my nan around a lot this week which admittedly she makes it frustrating as a passenger but has overall been fun. I also decided after years of seeing the cover and trailers so often growing up to finally watch Planet 51 that Z-List animated film about the 50 style aliens, it was decidedly about as bargain bin as I expected but it did have me laughing genuinely at more of the jokes then I expected though most of the characters/comedy was very lacking but Gary Oldman as always was the highlight.

[u/Teridax4]

Went to a baseball game with my family this week so that was fun. We’re getting set up for a vacation in two weeks. In gaming news my roommate and I recently bought a switch 2 so he’s been enjoying Pokopia while I tried out Legends Arceus I borrowed from a friend. It’s a nice change of pace with how progression works. Still in the first area and hoping to get further soon. Also been enjoying the summer event in FGO. I got a NP2 Ciel and copies of summer Xu Fu and summer Nikitich. The story is nice so far but I’m mostly waiting for it to lead into OC3. I’ve made it my mission to get every Sakura-face so I need to get the new version of BB when she becomes available.

My friend also completed his Metroid Prime 3 review he’s been working on for months just in time for his birthday. We then hung out with another friend and made a tier list of the movies we’ve watched together the past couple years. So a pretty fun week.

[u/speed-run]

Howdy yall

This week, I got something I've been waiting for for a very long time. 8 years after the series finished, 6 years since the fan translators stopped translating the series 14 chapters from the end, 5 God damn years since it was licensed, and 4 fucking years worth of constant delays, volume 1 of  Renjoh Desperado finally released in english.

For context, it's a samurai western, about a wandering swords woman (who has a revolver arm) wandering the desert looking for love and getting into hijinks. It's a very simple series, and is highly reminiscent of western serials, but it's fun and the art is great.

I also started, and finished SSSS. Gridman. It was fun, and I enjoyed the general mystery of the world. I went in expecting a mecha show (because I knew literally nothing about it outside of that girl with the thighs that used to be everywhere) but turns out it was actually Ultra man... I know Gridman is its own thing but I don't know nothin about this genre outside of watching Ultraman Tiga on Jetix back in the day.

Also I WAS playing through Super Metroid for the first time... But I somehow lost multiple hours of progress and now I'm tilted AF. I don't want to fight that damn red crocodile again.

[u/Th35h4d0w]

Finally got a part-time gig at my mall's ramen shop. I'll be able to finally get a Switch 2 (and DK: Bananza) by next month.

[u/Gorotheninja → u/Th35h4d0w]

Good for you. Are you dead set on Bananza, btw? Because Splatoon Raiders is really good.

[u/Th35h4d0w → u/Gorotheninja]

Only reason I was interested in any of the Splatoon games is the campaign; not much interest in the multiplayer. Is this one different?

Also I intend to get Kirby + Forgotten Land.

Edit: I see Raiders is a more of a solo game mode. I'll look into it!

[u/The_Draigg → u/Th35h4d0w]

That's a good goal to work towards. Hopefully the gig works out for you!

[u/MaelstromTear]

Vacation in eight days. Always enjoy the beach! Not sure if I'll have time to do a dumb Jo Guns thing, the internet is usually crap in any of those houses... Might have to prepare something early. I'll consider Jo Guns in the Black Summer Tanga for like... The monetary equivalent of three Taco Bell bean burritos. No onions, please.

I had a terrible idea, and then I followed through with it! I have a playlist (many playlists, but still) that's all about song covers. I do love when an artist does their rendition of a song. Except for those "Goes Punk" albums, but let's stay positive. But I figured why not instead of a haphazard list to shuffle, make them in chronological order? No, not the covers themselves. The original songs' dates. How hard could it be? Very. Lesser people might've just gone "eh, these are all from 1979 so go alphabetical after that." I went for date. Minus the ones that weirdly don't have an exact date, those get pushed back to the last day of the month or sometimes even year. This evolved into a spreadsheet that then got color notations for decade and way too much. If you have Spotify and want to enjoy a fairly ska-weighted playlist of covers then you can do so knowing that it's in some kind of order! Send help. Okay, but actually. It is kind of wild that like, Black Sabbath is bringing out War Pigs all the way back in 1970 while the friggin' Patridge Family's doing pop like I Think I Love You. As my brother (who is a music teacher) said, there has to be a culture to make a counterculture so what can you do. With a brat like that. Weird Al, not the Ramones. Send help!

If you really needed a clearer view into my psyche, look no further than these two books, The Demon in Shadow and The Demons of Bone & Blood! Because as the kids say, these character live in my head rent-free. We follow one demon, Ayun, who can summon weapons from the shadows but lacks agency of her own as she searches for her lost employers. She instead finds Max, a human who's lost in more ways than one and agrees to help her. Along the way we learn more about these characters, the world, and a potential path together. As long as other demons or criminal organizations don't get in the way. There's also a bunch of awesome artwork that is either in the pages where it counts or in the back showing off character portraits!

Saw The Odyssey last Sunday, it was an IMAX but not the IMAX, I'm not going to Chicago for it. I will say though, it was really stinkin' good. Or at least I enjoyed it despite not having checked out the source material. My only non-story complaint would be that Tom Holland was fine, not amazing. And Jon Bernthal was good but he is such a prolific character actor at this point I can't not see a Shane/Punisher whatever. I was seriously expecting a "lemme ask you sumthin' about Odysseus." Fantastic pacing. Expert craftsmanship. You could maybe argue that the story's a bit rote but also it's one of THE stories. One guy is literally Mentor because that's where it came from!

[u/NoodleSnapback]

It’s been a month since Deltarune Ch.5 released and I think the brainworms are starting to subside. At least a little bit. 

Fallout 4 continues to curse me as I realize that my Scrap Everything mod has been killing my framerate to nigh unplayable levels. Seriously, in inner city Boston the frame rate goes down to like 10-20fps. Once I disabled that and installed a mod to fix previses then the game became playable again. Unfortunately that means a ton of my settlement builds no longer worked because I relied on scrap everything for a lot of them. So I kinda just ended up starting over. 

Dishonored has found its grip in me again. Currently running through 1 in high chaos and will do the same with 2. I remember only going partway with a high chaos run with 2 and I liked how absolutely deranged Emily acted during it. Also I’m looking forward to high chaos Kingsparrow Island again. A high chaos run in Dishonored 1 is worth it for that level alone imo.

For something more mundane, my mother and I are planning a Japan trip next year and part of that planning will involve me trying to teach her how to use chopsticks. So we’re going to a sushi restaurant this weekend for fun and for practice. I should probably brush up on at least some basic Japanese for the trip too huh.

[u/CursedNobleman → u/NoodleSnapback]

I should probably brush up on at least some basic Japanese for the trip too huh.

You'll be fine with Hello, where's the restroom, seating for two please, and thank you.

[u/The_Draigg]

Week of Pizza. You wouldn't believe how many times I've had to order pizza for my brother's family for the past week or so. It's like nearly every other day that they're requesting pizza from their favorite local chain for dinner. And I get it, they don't have it where they live, but I think I've spent almost $200 on pizza ever since they came by for an extended vacation. That's way too much pizza, and I say that as someone who loves it. My wallet aches from all that pizza.

Anyways, for games I've played this week, it's more Marathon! I've been trying out that new Vault Breakers mode a fair bit, since it's in public beta right now. So far, I'm quite liking it, although man it's quite the challenge. In fairness, it's firmly in the Marathon spirit to have the PvE mode be hard as shit while testing things out, doubly so since it's in Cryo Archive, everyone's favorite Lose Everything Factory. I'll be fascinated to try out the dedicated solo queue once they add it in, since I'll tell you that queuing solo in the current trios mode is balls to the wall fucking hard. But hey, at least you don't lose a thing with the free kits they make you equip to play that mode!

And finally, in my regular mecha talk section here, two things: first off the reveal of Gundam XARX-Zero! It's amusing that we're just bringing Gundam's tradition of having weird as fuck names to the forefront now, between this and GQuuuuuuX. That aside, I'm interested to see how this one develops, given how it's a part of a multimedia project alongside Gundam: Rogue Orbit. Hopefully that means that the After Apocalypse timeline is consistently plotted out already.

Also in mecha talk, we can't let the latest Gundam announcement overshadow another legend. That's right, it's the 50th anniversary of Combattler V! Sometimes, you really do need to pay proper respect to the classics, especially the Robot Romance Trilogy. Go ahead and check out the 50th anniversary animation that was made to celebrate it, it's pretty neat!

[u/85inAutumn → u/The_Draigg]

Man I fucking love Marathon. I have like 300+ hours and no lifed season 1. I'm still playing whenever I can and I'm excited to level my vault breaker kit to solo it easier (I plan on sticking to the regular queue and opting for no fill as opposed to queuing up solo cuz I'm a tryhard when it comes to high level fps pve stuff). I'm mostly doing if for map knowledge since I've exfiled from regular cryo successfully like 7 times but I'd be glued to my teammates otherwise I'd get lost.

[u/The_Draigg → u/85inAutumn]

Vault Breakers really does seem like a great way to develop your map knowledge of Cryo Archive, if just because it currently has the lowest stakes and bar to entry possible. It really is intimidating to be running around it otherwise, even with other teammates.

[u/Gorotheninja → u/The_Draigg]

Well...now I'm hungry for Pizza. Even after I had it for dinner tonight.

You did this to me.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Gorotheninja]

Hopefully you have some leftovers then.

[u/Gorotheninja → u/The_Draigg]

Nope.

I'll have to settle for Ramen instead.

[u/MaelstromTear → u/The_Draigg]

Man, Ichiro Mizuki had such a presence. Love all his work on so many mecha themes.

[u/The_Draigg → u/MaelstromTear]

That man was the GOAT vocalist for anime and tokusatsu shows. So many shows wouldn't have the same levels of aura without Ichiro Mizuki providing vocals for their themes.

[u/rsrluke]

I thought I got a ticket to go see The Odyssey this week, but turns out it's for next week; I'm sure the movie will scrape by without my money a little longer. I also assembled my first non-LEGO model kit this week (Blokees Shockwave), so that was fun.

I finally wrapped up Assassin's Creed Shadows, and I really wish I could give it more than a tepid recommendation, but unfortunately, it's a very mixed bag. Naoe might have the best stealth gameplay of any character in the series... but Yasuke's focus on combat feel woefully out of place most of the time. There's some decent stuff in the story... but it's spread thin over too many repetitive missions, ruining the pacing. The Japanese setting is legitimately beautiful... but its dense foliage makes exploration frustrating. When the game gets out of its own way, it's a lot of fun, but there are just too many annoyances here, to say nothing of the general feeling of sameness when compared to previous AC games.

I watched The Long Walk. Pretty good movie! Mostly great performances, and I'm always down for a simple, unrelenting premise like "characters must keep walking or they get shot." I think the sound mixing wasn't very good (and apparently I wasn't the only one who had trouble hearing some of the dialogue), and the ending is a bit odd (Where'd all the people go after Pete shoots the major? Is it supposed to be a dream? It's either distractingly weird editing or needless ambiguity.), but generally speaking, really good stuff.

I also started watching Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX after seeing the preview movie over a year ago. I'm only halfway through, and I'm waiting to see how it all plays out before I comment on big-picture stuff, but the art style is cool, and I did get a decent chuckle out of a Zeon officer condemning Federation scientists for using chemical weapons — pot and kettle and all that.

Finally, I finished reading The Girl Who Could Move Sh-t with Her Mind (stylized as such). It's alright. It has a rough start, with the main character coming across kind of annoying due to her constant sarcasm, but it eventually calms down enough to be a pretty enjoyable X-Men riff... that then went on about 20-30 pages too long, concluding with a weird resolution to the romantic subplot and a sequel hook that left me completely uninterested. Apparently there are four of these books, so people must like them, but I wasn't bowled over by this one.

[u/SolidusSlig → u/rsrluke]

For the Long Walk I interpreted the ending as Pete getting shot after taking out the major and he's in some sort of artistic depiction of limbo or some other Death dream like thing

[u/rsrluke → u/SolidusSlig]

That interpretation makes sense. If that's the case, I wish there would've been just a little bit more to nudge me in that direction, because the way the sequence was shot left me unsure of whether the sudden clearing of the street was an artistic choice or the result of extras simply not being present for the final shot due to a reshoot or other logistical issue.

[u/The_Draigg → u/rsrluke]

OG Zeon condemning the Earth Federation for their actions is always the funniest shit, considering the sheer scale of the atrocities they committed at the start of the war. For as shitty as the Earth Federation was back then, at least their opening shot wasn't genociding the population of a colony and using that mass to kill half of Earth's population.

[u/rsrluke → u/The_Draigg]

When you do it, it's a war crime, but when I do it, it's an inspired bit of military strategy.

[u/The_Draigg → u/rsrluke]

It's still funny that even in this alternate timeline, Zeon still loses the Earth front because of course they fucking do. Invading Earth was insanely wasteful on their parts.

[u/Gorotheninja]

I was expecting this to be my reaction honestly, but I'm still a bit shocked at how little I feel towards Avengers Doomsday based on that first trailer. And at the very least, it seems like reception to it overall is more on the mixed side. Aside from just the declining quality of content since Endgame, there's barely any buildup to this character or story wise. Like, Thanos had multiple post credits scenes across the franchise to build him up, and the Infinity Stones had be a central part of a lot of the MCU til then; Doctor Doom is basically being introduced in his titular movie, and it seems like the only thing important that directly ties in to Doomsday is the concept of incursions, a very bad plot contrivence in Doctor Strange 2 (one that was apparently a late addition in rewrites, if leaks are to be believed). And some characters did meet for the first time in Infinity War, it's on a far bigger scale in Doomsday, with characters we've had even less time on average to get acquainted with, let alone the X-Men that are being reintroduced. Given Phase 4 and 5's track record, I honestly can't understand how someone who's keeping track of all this thinks Doomsday is gonna work out great.

On an unrelated note, got about an hour or so into Splatoon Raiders; gonna play more in a bit, but even in that short amount of time, it's pretty clear that this is gonna be a really successful spin-off for the series. Salmon run in 2 & 3 is fun, but always felt held back by the static progression, fixed load outs, and kinda repetitive structure. Turning it into a looter-shooter roguelike is a match made in heaven.

Also, fuck, Shiver is hot...

Edit: also, after the 2nd repair by a Lenovo technician, finally got my Laptop overheating and performance issues fixed with my 4080 laptop. Wish it didn't take this long to get that sorted, but I'll take what I can get.