I’m amazed how uninventive this fantasy book is. Guildstraat? Joost? Canals? What could “Ketterdam” stand for, out of all things, I wonder?
Also, it’s annoying that all POV characters are exactly 17 years old. What are the chances.
It’s an easy read overall. My two main gripes are with Kaz and Inej, as it’s not clear how one seventeen year old becomes a criminal mastermind and why an acrobat girl makes a good assassin.
Also, the entire backstory of Kaz is so overcomplicated. He comes to the Big City with money from selling his farm. Nobody is willing to employ him, but then a boy on the corner tells him about a broker that is looking for a messenger boy. And that broker becomes a fatherly figure for Kaz, and even invites him to his mansion and introduces Kaz to his family. And then the broker gives investment advice to Kaz (who’s a messenger boy, remember?), and this works out, so when he gives another advice, Kaz puts the money from selling his family’s farm into the enterprise. Only the broker disappears, and turns out the mansion was rented, and all the family was paid actors…
I mean, all that hard work for what, to steal money from selling a farm?!
Obviously the author tries to demonstrate how Ketterdam is the city of heist, but she tries a bit too hard.
Author: TheAleosha
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Nosferatu (2024)
I haven’t seen anything as visually impeccable since forever. Or at least since Ripley.
Almost every frame is like a wallpaper. Partially due to very classical approach: perfect symmetry, frame-within-frame, linear camera movement, 180 degree turns and L-shaped pans. It’s like a forgotten art.
I can’t say I managed to watch the original Nosferatu from 1922. It’s a silent film, after all. But I skimmed through it to understand were the 2024 story and tone comes from. And it is pretty accurate, taking into account 100 years difference. The trip to Transilvania, the escape, the ship and the plague. My impression is that the Madman had an even larger role in the original film. And there was no Hardings hosting family storyline, which means no necrophilia either.
I’m not sure what to make of the sexual scenes, the ecstacy of your blood being sucked. Maybe it is just for the shock value.
If Witch had The Goat and Lighthouse The Seagulls, Nosferatu has The Rats. I had to check that those were real, and not some very impressive CGI. And no, they had 2000-5000 rat actors.
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RetroArch Shaders
Interesting read on CRT shaders in RetroArch:
Discovering Sonkun’s crt-guest-advanced-ntsc Slot Mask presets
And another one:
Here, it’s clear that not all shaders are actually good for your health. Some produce nasty artifacts. -
Painting Horticulus Slimux
I model I was planning to paint for a few months, so I bought it as soon as it was back in stock.
It’s again a step up from the previous model in terms of complexity, 30 parts. But assemling it is slightly easier, because they added groves and indents on the parts you need to join.
Drybrushing it was still tiresome. I think it took me an hour just to do a layer of Dawnstone.
The amount of detail on this model is incredible. Someoen went wild. I had to create a list just to keep up with my plans for all the “characters”. -
Soulcalibur
Soulcalibur was one of the first games I managed to emulate on Demul, back in 2007, and I’ve been playing it ever since ocassionally.
But I never knew that the arcade version was actually inferior to the Dreamcast one, which almost never happens:Also, I was under the impression that every time you completed Story mode for a character, you unlocked their “twin”. Mostly those were reskins, but some of them would grow into distinct characters later. Turns out that’s incorrect. You open charactacters based on how many times you finish the arcade with distinct characters, not with which character you finish it. Yoshimitsu always opens after 2nd completion, while Cervantes requires 10.
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Black Frame Insertion
There are different techniques to make old games look better or more authentic on modern displays. Upscaling, filters, scanlines. Idea of the BFI is that CRTs didn’t output a frame, but a line of pixels, in a snake-like pattern. So every frame was completely erased before the next started. LCDs work in a different way: one static picture is replaced by another. Which suppossedly creates some kind of a blur.
The idea of BFI is that if we take 60 frames, and add a black frame after each image, we will reproduce the fidelity of a CRT on 120Hz monitors.
The problem is, it doesn’t work for me.
I started with RetroArch. You need to set monitor to 120Hz, even if it supports 144Hz, because the technique works only with whole numbers, otherwise you’ll get flicker. It works, but the picture is twice as dark, and I don’t see any improvement in motion clarity.
Then I tried RetroTink 4K on my Samsung QLED. This was a disaster, as the best I could get was a slightly flickering image with colors that are way off. Not as dark as on a monitor, but I also didn’t enjoy the results at all. -
Original Xbox
It’s ironic that the original Xbox now sells for more than Xbox 360 or Xbox One. Maybe has to do with original Xbox selling 24M copies, while Xbox 360 sold 85M, so it’s much more available.
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Rince Cochon Blonde
I know I’ve been complaining about Belgian beers a lot lately. But this blonde beer is honestly very good. Feels stronger and sweeter than stated 8.5%, and doesn’t leave any heaviness behind. The closest I could think of is Delirium Tremens, and that’s a high praise from me. I wanted to stay that still, I don’t plan to buy this beer in the future, but actually, I’d buy their Triple
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Xbox 360 BadUpdate exploit
Depending on a viewpoint, one might say I picked the best or the worst time to be interested in Xbox 360. Because I suffered with trying BadUpdate to work, and now everyone is raving about BadUpdate 1.2
And okay, yeah, it’s amazing. What took me 20 tries now worked on the first attempt. So you can say that softmoding Xbox 360 is easier than PS4 now.
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Evolutionary stasis
This week I was upgraded from MacBook Pro M1 to MacBook Pro M4. But from the outside, you couldn’t tell the difference. Interesting how Apple reached this adaptive peak in its evolution, at least for now.
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Ace Combat 2
Most interesting mission is where you need to chase experimental bombers above the clouds. A lot of aircrafts would stall at those altitudes, so you need something like MiG-29.
In some missions you also find named pilots, like Goose alor Razorback. Downing them brings a reward to the collection.
Again, we need to fly into a base through a tunnel to blow a reactor. With a twist that a tunnel opens only after 3 minutes of real time, and closes after another minute.
The hardest mission is probably the one where you need to destroy radars with your machine gun. Not so much because of the machine gun part, despite radars placed on buyous at sea and the need to fly through inlet to locate some of them, but because the way enemy planes spawn right behind you as soon as you try to make a pass. And unlike your missiles, those planes seem to be infinite.
Last mission, I didn’t enjoy at all. You need to chase a cruise missile with a machine gun, and that target is tiny. Good luck not getting motion sickness. Not sure if playing on a real hardware would help, but on emulator, this mission is a nightmare.
And of course there is another tunnel with a reactor you need to blow at the end. Luckily this time it’s enough to hit the reactor, you don’t need to fly out for the tunnel as well.
One bit that confused me is that I never unlocked the F22, that’s why I was playing final missions on YF23. There are also more aircrafts to unlock when you play the campaign for a second time, but after that cruise missile mission, I’ll pass. -
Kurg Imperial Stout, Pohjala
An Estonian Imperial Stout I’ve brought from York. A wax seal is a seal of quality for me nowadays. I don’t remember yet once being disappointed by a wax sealed bottled.This is an amazing barrel aged Imperial Stout, one of the best I’ve ever had. Like drinking a Guiness chocolate cake, with the smokiness, but also the sweetness. Funny, but I felt less drunk from its 13% ABV than from some 6% beers. Go figure.
I kind of grew to be dismissive of everything sold in the UK, and appreciating only what I bring from abroad, but this is an exception for sure.
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Ace Combat 2
It’s genuiniley impressive how much the game has improved over the first installement. The drawing distance is now comfortable, and I don’t need to look at the radar anymore. The speed and altitude is now also shown in the 3rd person view, so there’s no need to switch to 1st person much. The afterburners are now also visible, so you can see when you are speeding up.
The game is also more colourful. It is strange statement, considering in the first game you flew purple jets.
Of course there is a ravine mission. It looks better than in Ace Combat 1, but weirdly, it plays worse, because with potato graphics of Ace Combat 1 it was very easy to see the path, whereas in Ace Combat 2 I wasn’t sure if I’m flying into a wall. -
Torchlight
Nice that you don’t descend into the dungeon alone. Besides the pet, you’ll also have a warrior join you for a few levels.
Something I haven’t considered is that a dual wielding rogue can mix between a ranged and a melee weapon. Shooting enemies with a pistol from afar, then smacking them with a club once they get close. Works surprisingly well.
Fifth level is catacombs. New theme every 4 levels, classic.
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Garun, Borg Brugghus
Imperial stout from Iceland. Icelandic beers have won a few awards over the years, but that’s the only award winner I managed to find, and only by sheer luck.
Has the ABV, but surprisingly not the sweetness. First I tasted rye bread, almost kvas, then a bit of smoke, but not too much. Definitely pleasant, -
Xbox 360
I was slightly wrong regarding connecting Xbox Series S gamepad to Xbox 360 through adapter. It works only on jailbroken Xbox 360. Before exploit kicks in, I still have to use the original disgusting controller.
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Kakuto Chojin
I understood that I don’t want to play Xbox360 games as much as I want to play some original Xbox games. So I did. It’s surprisingly easy, you use the same ISO2GOD to convert ISO to executable format, and that’s it, Aurora picks them up immediatelly.
The game itself surprised me. First, there are slowdown in some arenas. Not sure if it happened on original hardware, because technically Xbox360 running an emulator for Xbox games. But I do remember that Xemu had the same issues.
Then the fighting system itself is broken, and I’m not even a fighting expert to recognize it. There’s a term “negative on block”, which means that if you hit a blocking character hard, you get pushback, and may get punished.
But at least with Vittoria, which a picked randomly, kicks are safe on block. So you can kick, if it lands – great, if not, you have time to throw your blocking opponent.
Also, JD character is literally Brad Pitt from Fighting Club. I don’t know how he didn’t sue. -
Torchlight
Despite Torchlight 2 being my second most favourite ARPG ever (after Diablo 3, but before Diablo 2), I always ignored the first Torchlight, considering it inferior.
Having tried it on both PC and Xbox 360 now, I feel like I was right and wrong at the same time. It is more like Torchlight 2 is actually Torchlight 1.5.
Structure first. First Diablo game has a vertical structure. We descent deeper and deeper into the dungeon, but each level is pretty limited. Diablo 2 has a horizontal structure. The areas are wast, but if you ever find a dungeon, it rarely goes deeper than two levels. Every few levels in Diablo 1 dungeon have a common theme. And entire areas in Diablo 2 have themes as well: grasslands, desert, and so on. Torchlight 2 clearly follows Diablo 2, with even the same themes for the episodes. While Torchlight 1 is Diablo 1, where there is a single town, and you descend deeper into the mines.
What neither Diablo 1 nor Diablo 2 had from the start, though, is mana regeneration. Given the fact that skills are one of the fun parts of any ARPG, having mana regeneration is good, since you spend more time doing fun stuff.
There are three skill trees for each character, like Diablo 2. But those aren’t exactly “trees”, as you don’t have skill prerequisites. Something modern gamers criticize Diablo 2 for.
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Xbox 360
When you buy any console second hand, chances are that the gamepad will be half borked. Sticky thumbsticks half falling apart, mushy buttons, you name it. And let’s agree, ergonomics have improved since 2005. All in all, I much prefer Xbox Series X gamepad over Xbox 360. Unfortunately, one cannot simply plug Xbox Series X gamepad into Xbox 360. Or can you?
Back in the day, when I was playing some fighting and beat’em’ups on Nintendo Switch, I bought a simple adapter to connect my Hori Fighting Stick to the Switch dock. I didn’t expect it to work, because why would it, but I decided to give it a try. And after playing with the settings, it just did!
Now I can play on Xbox 360 on the gamepad I like. -
Resident Evil 3
Completed Resident Evil 3.
The final episode, Factory, is obtrusive. It may sound funny, but there isn’t that much backtracking in Resident Evil 3. Unless you get confused, of course. But Factory is designed is such a way that you have to go back and forth multiple times, while game throws at you enemies in rooms you already cleared, sometimes twice. Also, there are some unskippable cutscenes before the boss fights that can get pretty annoying.
I’m not sure how environmental the final two boss fights are. In the first, Nemesis is in humanoid form, and you need to shoot acid valves when he’s near. Not sure if that’s the only way to damage him, or if it just helps. Funny how at some point he loses his head, but still goes on.
Then the final fights is against Nemesis-frog. I usually say that ammo is more important than health items in Resident Evil, because you can’t heal a boss to death, you need to shoot him. But this is another environmental fight, as far as I can tell, where you need to turn on a railgun, then lure Nemesis a couple of times so it gets smashed by it.
The entire game took me around 6 hours of game time to complete. Which isn’t bad, I thought it would be shorter. I remember that Leon’s scenario in Resident Evil 2 took me around 2:30 hours.
By the end of it, I still had plenty of healing items, but not that many bullets, I must admit. So the game is more enemy heavy than Resident Evil 2 for sure.
