Discovered that there was an official arcade stick made for NES.
People say, though, that for many games, it was more of a disadvantage.
Author: TheAleosha
PC:
- Amid Evil
- Backbone
- Dark Forces
- Inscryption
- Loop Hero
- Modern Warfare (2019)
- XCOM Chimera Squad
NDS:
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
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Connection Reset
Post-COVID life has some funny consequences. At some point, some sites stopped working on my old Note 8. Namely: Twitter and YouTube. I was simply getting “connection reset” error, and that’s it. YouTube app would sometimes work, and Twitter app almost never worked.
I attributed this to phone not getting security updates, and hence – no certificate updates. But jailbreaking it was too cumbersome, and would also ruin Work Profile, so I decided simply to wait for a new phone.
Imagine my surprise when I got a new phone still with the same issue. Sites working fine most of the time, but “connection reset” sometimes.
Then I gave it some thought, went into “Parental Controls” of my mobile provider, and found out I was on “kids” setting, which probably is just the default setting they give you. With my previous provider, Vodafone, they gave you an HTML page that would explain the issue, but new provider, EE, just breaks the connection.
Once I turned that to “adult” mode, both Twitter and YouTube came back immediately.
How come I never figure this out until now? I go out so rarely nowadays, that I manage to stay on WiFi most of the time, and when I’m off WiFi, the old DNS’ are still kept for some time, I guess. So when I went to the gym, I could watch a video or two on YouTube, before getting disconnected.
We watched Cheer until the “Jerry Episode”.
On one hand, it is crazy how can you fall from grace so quickly: from speaking with the US President and hugging with Brad Pitt, to spending up to 50 years in jail.
On the other hand, it isn’t the first teen celebrity that couldn’t handle the fame. Most of them end up overdosing. At least Jerry is still alive. Still.
A couple of things bothered me in the episode, though.
Mother checking her son’s phone “not on a regular basis”? But well, maybe this ended up for the best, I dunno.
Then their lawyer said that Jessica, Cheer manager (I guess that’s her official title, she isn’t their Mother, right?), “didn’t apologise using the correct and approved words”.
And finally, the fact that the mother report abuse multiple times, and all the bodies ignored it, until she reported it to the FBI (and apparently also went to the press, although that was kind of glossed over).
Like all those compliance organizations, are we going to investigate what exactly are they doing (nothing) or nah?
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Dark Arts Surreal Stout
This beer from Magic Rock Brewing hits way above its price.
Dark Arts
Similar in quality stout from Brew By Numbers would cost twice as much:
https://bbno.co/collections/all-beers/products/10-coffee-porter-mocha-cbd-6-5-440ml-can-1
Now I’m curious to try their IPA, which seems to be closer to DIPA:
Cannonball
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Darksiders 3
Feels Souls-like, but not entirely. Fury is much more nimble, and her default whip has a huge reach. Also, there’s no stamina. But you literally collect souls, which you drop when you’re killed. And there are replenishable flasks. Enemies don’t resurrect when you visit local version of the “the bonfire”, though. And do so only when you die.
There is a surprising amount of acrobatics involved, which is not common to Souls like games. You gave to jump over some of the attacks. And the first boss require you to climb up to her using your whip. And hit her in midair, no less.
Storytelling is weird. Apparently it takes place at the same time as the first Darksiders. Fury is told that War has started the Apocalypse, and she in the meantime is tasked with hunting the Seven Deadly Sins.
There are some recurring characters that we meet, like the Shady Trader and the Blacksmith. I don’t care to remember their actual names.
After beating the second boss, Fury is injured and is telephoned to Hollows, and in the Hollows there is a giant that releases angels and demons by destroying them… Like do I supposed to remember and understand what’s going on? Because I don’t.
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Street Fighter Red Tape
Discovered this series only now, and for those that know Street Fighter 2, it’s hilarious.
The amount of detail they put into this is incredible.
Immensely enjoying it so far. Got past the second boss, Hydra. But my true love is the first boss, Megaera, or simply Meg. Well, not only mine. That’s why it’s even an option to romance that “tsundere”.
Got to the 3rd boss on my 3rd run, so I thought that maybe I’m getting a hang in it. But no, next two runs got wasted by the 1st boss.
I have the best runs with the ranged weapons in the meantime: the Spear and the Shield mostly. The Sword and the Claws require to get “in the face”, and take some damage as a result. And the Bow doesn’t deal enough damage.
Managed to beat the pair of 3rd bosses only on the 16th run or so. With the Shield, no less. But that’s because I got extra lucky. First, I got the extra-life refill from Patroclus. And then I smashed Artemis’ Call in the very last moment, when I was one hit away from final death.
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Metal Gear character inspirations
Not sure how true it is, but love it anyway!
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
The really groundbreaking feature of this phone is its camera.
At first I wasn’t impressed. Yes, it takes rather bright photos at night, but that’s it.
But then I zoomed to see the moon, and… wow:
And this one was taken from some 50 meters away, across the canal.
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Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select
May be an unpopular opinion, but Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel is a fantastic whiskey for its price, which is around 40GBP.
I prefer it over both Woodford Reserve and Four Roses Single Barrel bourbons.
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Lighthouse (2019)
Mundane horror, is that even a thing? Not so much about monster or psychopaths, but about guilt, loneliness, fatigue.
Very loosely based on Smalls Lighthouse Tragedy. The original lighthouse wasn’t even on an island. It was a cabin standing in the middle of the sea. That is why, when one of the Thomases died, the other one came up with the idea of building him a coffin and securing it OUTSIDE.
The real life story took place in 1800, while the movie takes place around 1890. This is probably to introduce the wicked machinery, and especially the horn, a sound that surely could drive anyone crazy after a time.
Filmed in black and white, and in 4:3 aspect ratio, and with a grain film effect on the top.
The starting scene impressed me. While the previous shift carry their luggage together, the new shift are separate.
I didn’t get most of the references. Well, I didn’t get half of what the characters were saying, really, without the subtitles. There is Moby Dick, and probably Prometheus at the very end, but that’s about it.
There is an interesting look into a structure of a lie. At one point Thomas says that the previous keeper went crazy, believed that something got into the lighthouse. While in fact he’s the one that believes in it.
Some of the monologues do sound Lovecraftian, and Eggers admitted that it was intentional. But the more I think about it, the more it seems that this is just a story of going mad from everything around you: the abuse, the solitude, the harsh conditions and too much alcohol.
At the beginning of the film Ephraim is bullied by a one-eyed seagull. Later Thomas tells him that seagulls are souls of dead sailors. And then Ephraim tells Thomas that he has found the “head of your one-eyed wickie”. We also see glimpses of Thomas stabbing something or someone with a harpoon. So I would hazard a guess that the previous wickie wasn’t one-eyed his entire life, but probably got pocked by Thomas during an intercourse with a mermaid.
Also worth noticing is how the cabin is a reflection of the mental state of Ephraim. At first he tried to fix and clean it, but after he starts drinking, the roof begins to leak, and there is the final episode of ocean bursting the window: going completely crazy metaphor.
Thomas getting angry with Ephraim for not liking his cooking, and especially the lobster: sea god furious with rejecting his gifts. That’s why Thomas literally curses Ephraim.
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Hero’s Hour
Clearly inspired by earlier Heroes of Might and Magic or maybe even Kings Bounty. And with impressive 12 factions, most of them taken directly from HoM&M3.
Visually, it is much more primitive than gorgeous Heroes of Might and Magic, though. Much closer to Master of Magic in the art style.
The fights are real-time, and remind me of Lord’s of the Realm more than anything. With the hero participating in the fight as well. The control is indirect, with you just able to place the units (fighters at the front, archers at the back), and give them general direction of attack.
The real downside is, like with many other indie games, there is only skirmish. No campaign whatsoever. And skirmishes get boring very quickly.
There’s also treasure hunting and obelisks with hints, just like in HoM&M series. The artifact that you end up finding is not a game-changer, from what I could tell, though.
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Auto Modellista
Racing game from Capcom from the 2000’s that is best known for using the popular at the time cel-shading technique. There are lots of cars available from the get go, including some top-tier ones, not just trash cars like you start with in some more realistic racing games.
The problem is that the driving itself is not very enjoyable. Cars are hard to handle, and I’m not sure what the game expects you to do about it.
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Neo Geo MVS misadventures
My misadventures with Neo Geo console continue.
I bought it back in May, from Spain.
For the first day or so it had a distorted image, which is a known problem.
Then the image disappeared completely, showing just a bit of garbage.
I’ve sent it for repairs, and it got stuck in Spanish customs from 5th of June, until the 29th of July, when they decided that they don’t want to accept my customs declaration, and shipped it back.
Now it’s still on its way back, and I was told that it should arrive “in a week or two”.
Yes, a single day of happiness, three months of waiting. And when I finally receive it, it will still be the same malfunctioning console, which I’ll have to find a way to fix myself now.
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Keychron K1
I decided to replace Keychron K8 with a low-profile Keychron, and stay with TKL.
Between K1 and K1 SE I decided to go with the original K1, because I like to keep my keyboard flat, and for some reason I’m more attracted to the aluminium body, and not a plastic one.
Keychron K1 gets everything right. It’s a total joy to work with. I went for the red switches, and they are pleasantly quiet. Also, the charging port is at the right place, on the back of the keyboard, and not on the left side.
I was surprised by the amount of lighting effects this keyboard has. Especially because I tend not to use lighting effects at all.
Maybe later I’ll replace ABS keycaps with PBT ones. But in the meantime, I like the smooth feel of ABS’s.
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XCOM Chimera Squad
Completed XCOM Chimera Squad.
As I thought, Progeny arc is much easier. At least you don’t have to fight a boss and another super-tough enemy in the same encounter.
A slight disappointment is that you cannot get all of the agents in a single run. I ended up not picking Zephyr and Claymore, and never got to see them in action.
Godmother’s “Untouchable” skill (which existed in XCOM 2 as well) is fantastic. Once she neutralizes an enemy, she gets invulnerability until the end of the turn. But other enemies don’t know it, and still shoot at her, wasting their ammo.
Another awesome skill is Blueblood’s “Faceoff”:
Story is a big letdown. So the entire game we try to “investigate” three different gangs in order to figure out which gang assassinated the mayor. But in the end – none of them. It all was the “evil mercenaries” plot, albeit we hardly heard about them the entire game. And the way we discover that plot is through mercenaries storming the city council in broad daylight. Because… why not?!
Overall, I felt like the game became repetetive far too quickly. Which is a shame.
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Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
Finished listening to Kurt Vonnegut’s “Breakfast of Champions” about a week ago.
As I mentioned, it is a non-fiction posing as a fiction, most of the fictionary stuff happening in the heads of different characters, either because they mentally ill, or write for a living.
The idea of Dwayne Hoover thinking about everyone else as “unfeeling machine” and only him having a free will is the basic concept of sociopathy. This is the definition of it, as far as I know.
The eponymous “Breakfast of Champions” is just a joke a waitress used to make when serving alcohol in the morning. Substance abuse is yet another novel’s theme.
It was an interesting read, because it’s a “zeitgeist”, a timecapsule of what social issues the author worries about exactly 50 years ago. And by far and large, those aren’t much different from today.
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Cycle Frontier
Love the style, love how weapons look and feel, hate permadeath mechanics.
Would be great if it was a singleplayer game. But I got shot in the head by some random Chinese dude on my first run, and lost all of my equipment. Not fun. Actually, I got so frustrated by that interaction I almost went and shot another random dude myself. Stopped myself just in time, though.
Also, probably there’s an idea behind not having mission markers, but I don’t have patience for this.
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XCOM Chimera Squad
There’s a huge difficulty spike at the end of first act. At least if you decide to fight Sacred Coil faction first, as I did. First two fights are easy. But the boss attacks four times, inflicts status, and you also need to beat Gatekeeper, one of the toughtest enemies from XCOM 2. It all came down to luck, when Axiom, my melee brute, knocked down one of the bigger enemies on the first turn. Then Verge was able to “berserk” enemy flamethrower. And the boss simply got stuck on the ladder. Still, it was a very frustrating fight.
The situation with equipment is pretty sad. There is Regular Assault Rifle, Enhanced Assault Rifle and Mastercrafted Assault Rifle (lulwat?). And I’m not even sure those are different in terms of looks. The only bright side is that after completing Act I you start getting some missions with unique weapons available. Those not only look unique, but also have unique abilities.