Finished listening to Project Hail Mary. I hope I’ll never hear the words “petrovascope” and “astrophage” again.
Jokes aside, though, it’s a solid piece of science fiction, with some emphasis on science.
Author: TheAleosha
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Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
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Need for Speed High Stakes (PSX)
PSX version of High Stakes misses quite a lot compared to PC version. There’s no cockpit view. The weather effects are almost non existing. Just 4 leagues and no modes besides Tournament. So, it’s a High Stakes without the “High Stakes”.
But it has a few advantages as well. First, lighting is surprisingly better than on PC. Especially lens flares. And upgrades actually make a difference in this version, making it more playable that the brutal PC version.
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Need for Speed High Stakes
I fondly remember Need for Speed 4 from my childhood. I had a friend who was really good at this game, unlocked all the cars, while I always was terrible at racing games, so I didn’t even manage to complete the first tournament race.
So, I decided to revisit it. And it is still brutal. You need to pay entrance fee for most tournaments. You car gets damaged and needs repairs. To compete in eponymous “High Stakes” race, where you stake your car against opponents, you need an extra car.
At first I thought that upgrades, tucked away in one of the menus, will help. But it’s quite pointless, since opponent cars are upgraded as well.
Some of the tracks are extrucicating. With 8 laps, they take 15 minutes of real time. And this is before modern racing features such as time rewind and guidelines.
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Stigbergets Cacao
It’s astonishing that at 12.5%, this is not even the strongest beer from Swedish Stigbergets.
It’s a fantastic Imperial Stout throught and throught, though. Surprisingly sour, which means that it tastes like 90% chocolate, and very smooth. Makes you light, not heavy. Something I definitely would buy if I ever find it again.
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Dalmore 12 Year Old
8th whiskey from the Advent Calendar.
Nothing to write home about, as would be expected from a whiskey that is sold in the supermarkets and has a stag on it.
It is the most tart whiskey I can remember, though. And it has some interesting spicy aftertaste.
But defintely wouldn’t buy it for myself. -
HiFiMan Sundara
As I’ve proven many times, despite owning a bunch of high-end audio equipment, I don’t understand anything in music.
But there’s one test where open-backed headphones clearly superior to the closed ones:
Yes, it’s a crappy video. But when I watch it with Sundara on, I constantly turn my head over my shoulder to understand where the little girl came from. The presence they provide is sometimes scary.
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“History of Cut Street Fighter Characters and Designs”, Thorgi’s Arcade
Another interesting fighting video game history video.
There’s a lot of speculation, as usual, but the design of one character blew my mind 😆
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Nc’nean Huntress 2022
7th bottle from the Advent Calendar, and so far probably the best yet.
It has almost no smell, pleasant or otherwise, but hits you with a warmth, quiets the head, and is quite sweet.
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Mad Squirrel Dusk Porter
I think I got this from the random crate, but I’m not sure. Been meaning to taste Mad Squirrel just for the sake of the name.
It’s a nice porter. Not much gas, which is good. Has some sweetness, some smokiness, doesn’t leave you with a headache. For 3GBP or so, not bad at all. -
Board games and video games
I find that the best way for me to learn a board game is to play its videogame version for a bit. That way you feel that something guides you, doesn’t allow you to make completely stupid mistakes and you don’t need to bother with maths either.
This worked great with PC version of Wingspan for me. Then I tried to console version on Catan, which is tiny and hard to follow, but still helps.
And now I tried Root. The interesting bit about Root is that it’s completely asymmetric, unlike most board games. Every has different mechanics: one has fixed number of moves, another has number of moves increasing every turn, another has number of moves depending on the items. Starting positions are completely different: one faction controls all areas, but is spread very thin, while another controls just one area, but has a large force there. So while certainly not something I would play solely for my enjoyment, it’s interesting, and well executed.
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Diablo 4
Changed my build to be more poison and traps oriented. That gives me a bit more satisfaction and smugness, as you can win before enemy even knows it: neat feature shows you if the enemy will eventually die from your poison or not.
After reaching level 35, “orange” drop rate improves a lot. Funny though that those legendaries still get quickly outpaces with the yellow-rare drops. The main difference between “rare” and “legendary” being either effect when player is hit or some bonus to cooldowns. Strange that rares have some unique names, but “oranges” are often just generic “bumpy helm of greater might”.
Strangely, they managed to screw up the fight with Andariel. Andariel, the treat of Diablo 2, the sight of her monstrous body! Now, you barely see her. Seriously, it’s a shotout fight. She shots at you from across the screen, then dies. I’m not even sure what she looks like.
By level 43 or so I finally got a horse. A horse makes traveling easier, and feels a bit like Legend of Zelda with its “boost carrots”. Here you can also gallop it 3 times in a row. Anyway, since all monsters are basically the same, horse allows speeding up by them, which is great.
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“BlazBlue – Fighting Game Retrospective”, Thorgi’s Arcade
Arc Systems lost rights to most of the original Guilty Gear characters during the Sammy/Sega merger
So they decided to create a new series, with a new set of characters. The authors of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue are not the same, although they’re good friends and both worked for Arc Systems.
Guilty Gear was becoming more and more complicated, so BlazBlue was also supposed to be simpler.
Toshimichi Mori wanted to make JRPGs, not fighting games. That explains the sprawling storyline of BlazBlue -
Fourpure Nightbus
Got it from the same Beer52 random crate I’m still struggling to finish. It’s a nice surprise, pretty sweet and tasty for a cheap 5% stout. Not sold on their site directly at the moment, so I couldn’t get it even if I wanted to, but all their other beers are ridiculously cheap:
https://www.fourpure.com/collections/beers
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Old Pulteney 15 Year Old
5th in the Advent Calendar was Glenfiddich 18. Once I had a whole bottle of it. I don’t consider it a good whiskey. My opinion didn’t change after this taster.
To the Old Pulteney 15 Year Old now. It’s excellent. Surprisingly sweet, a bit sharp for my taste, but leaves with an excellent warmth. At 73GBP per bottle, it’s a bargain. -
Street Fighter 3
Now I’ve beaten all three versions of Street Fighter 3 with Yun. The easiest is probably 2nd Impact, as Gill is not even the last boss (Yun’s brother, Yang is), and he doesn’t have the nasty resurrect.
You can also see how the game becomes more “barebone”, as new characters are added. First background quality degrades with 2nd Impact, then with 3rd Strike there are no win screens anymore. -
Shigurui
The story of Shigurui is a story of rivalry between two young samurai: Gennosuke and Seigen.
Gennosuke is considered the best student of Kogan, until Seigen arrives to the dojo. Being the better student, Seigen is supposed to marry Mie, Kogan’s daughter, and inherit the dojo.
But he can’t keep himself from sleeping with Iku, Kogan’s mistress. Kogan learns about it, blinds Seigen and exiles both him and Iku.
Seigen hunts all Kogan’s students one by one, besides Gennosuke and Gonzaemon. He then manages to kill Kogan. This is all set up as if Kogan attacked first, so Gennosuke’s and Mei’s stipend is taked away as a punishment.
Gennosuke and Gonzaemon challenge Seigen to a honor duel. In the end, Seigen manages to kill Gonzaemon, and cut Gennosuke’s arm.
This is again considered shameful. Gennosuke and Mei are forbidden to kill themselves, and instead left to lead life in poverty.This is a story where the most positive character, Gennosuke, on orders of Kogan, his master, almost participates in the rape of Kogan’s daughter, and Seigen is considered “brave”, because he refuses to participate.
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Gordon Xmas beer
Finally tried it (it’s March, I bought it before Christmas). And it’s exactly what I’d wish from Christmas beer. Chocolate or coffee notes, some spiciness, sweet, but not too heavy.
If I could get it next year, I would. -
“Was it Good? – Chrono Trigger”, Josh Strife Plays
I completed Chrono Trigger, but it was some 20 years ago. Maybe one day, I’ll complete it again.
One fascinating detail is that Chrono Trigger story is the rejected story for Final Fantasy 7. That’s why they have Lavos (evil entity from space that sucks planet energy) and Genova (evil entity from space that sucks planet energy).
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Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
I’ve been trying to “get” Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike many times, maybe since 2004 when it was first emulated. But it took me an hour in a real arcade to finally start to understand it.
The 30th Anniversary Collection is probably the best version for a couple of reasons. First, it has a training mode, something most of the original games lacked.
And I’m actually impressed by its “arcade” filter, which turned out to be pretty close to the real arcade.
The character I picked this time is Yun. Not because he’s considered one of the strongest characters by the experts: I’m too dumb to use his juggling abilities. But because his basic attacks are very strong.This time I even managed to beat Gill. The boss has a nasty ability to ressurect himself with full health, if he has a full meter when downed. Even if you manage to survive his comeback, he usually wins with a timer. So, I won with a timer as well 😝
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Glengoyne 12 Year Old
4th taster from the Advent Calendar.
Some people describe it as easy, and I’d agree. It is not overpowering, just slightly malty, you don’t feel the 43%, but it numbs the mouth nicely. For 45GBP, you can’t wish for much more.