Nintendo DS. Loved how it felt in my hands.
The DS Lite was too sharp and felt fragile. The 3DS was a gimmick, and the 2DS was the best 3DS version, but lacking folding hurt how portable it was. It never felt right having the screens exposed in my pocket. Losing GBA compatibility was also a deal breaker.
The OG DS was a perfect evolution of the GBA and I will take both of mine to my grave.
Yes. I check the organ donor box when I renew my driver’s license. If I’m in an accident then I don’t need 'em anymore. Let someone else use 'em.
But there’s no sense crying after every mistake.
You just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake.
My last foray into Linux gaming was back in the early-2010s, and I was mostly just trying to get EVE Online to run unsuccessfully. I was running a laptop that was top if the line (in 2009) and my PCs were cobbled together from old Dells and HPs donated by family and friends or retired and given away by my company IT team.
Steam on Linux was nice, and would show you which games in your library had Linux native versions to install. I held out on that and browser gamed for a while. Played a lot of Runescape and Minecraft. Taught myself to code a bit, but didn’t really get anywhere with that.
Eventually I had money and time to put together a “proper” gaming PC, and of course I put Windows on it since I wanted to get an NVidia graphics card as I’d had so much trouble with the AMD drivers on my laptop.
Ran Windows for gaming and kept Linux on the laptop since then. First PC ran Win7, which i loved. Next one ran Win 8, which I hated. Current one was running Win 10, which was meh, and I’ve only soured on it over time. Made the switch back to Linux last week after I got tired of M$ constantly asking me if I want to try Copilot on /both/ my work and personal PCs.
Proton is fucking great. Never going back. The old laptop is still running strong after 15 years. It’s got BunsenLabs installed at the moment.
Saving for reference. You’ve got a good thing going here. I need to steal some of your ideas for my own collection.
I have three categories:
They go into In Progress when they’re installed.
They go into completed when I’ve finished them. Either 100% achievements or completed to my own satisfaction if no achievements.
If I lose interest and uninstall they drop back into Uncategorized until I’m ready to pick them up again.
I’m still playing PalWorld, but Cassette Beasts is on my short list now by that same logic.
I’m not your Pal, Friend!
The author of this comment has been sacked.
HL being in bland is less about it being bland and more a statement about how bad bad the games that made the bad list actually were.
Seconding this. I remember finding and reading Battle Royale in high school after watching the movie with my dad. It’s great, and the movie did a good job adapting it.
Reading Hunger Games after that just felt derivative, though admittedly I’m not the target audience so much of the appeal is lost on me to begin with.
Right. It’s a silly argument, I know, but I’ve been playing Monster Hunter since the original on the PS2. It had a particular vibe back then which has been slowly eroding away over the years as power creep and new, more flashy weapons and moves take the stage.
It’s not all bad change, but I am one of the curmudgeons that still thinks the insect glaive is a bit over the top for the series and that the newer entries are making the game a bit too easy with too much in-combat QoL improvements.
For me my issues with Rise are two-fold.
One, it’s because it was designed for the Switch and based off the handheld version of the game, so they were working under stricter hardware limitations and could afford to sacrifice fidelity. This felt like a step backwards after we were spoiled by how detailed and vibrant World felt. The environments just felt more artificial and “gamey” where World felt like an actual place with real creatures interacting with each other in believable ways.
Two, it’s because I don’t much like the wire-bugs. They feel out of place in Monster Hunter because they’re just a bit too OP and magical. I’m not a fan of the more fantastical elements MH has been introducing. I like the series being more grounded, and I felt World hit the balance nicely with the weapons and tools being fun and “anime” without being so over the top they break verisimilitude.
Both are minor complaints. Rise is still a great game and I did play it for a good while on the Switch, it’s just not scratching the MH itch like World does.
Hades would be my choice if you’re looking to be challenged. Give it a few tries on normal difficulty, and if you’re getting your ass kicked it has a great casual friendly accessibility option to turn on a slowly scaling damage reduction that will eventually tune the game to your skill level. You can turn it off at any time, and there are no penalties for using it.
Psychonauts 2 is also a solid choice. Overall it was an excellent sequel and definitely worth playing, but if you’re looking for a challenge look elsewhere. It’s a casual platformer through and through. It’s still a great game in it’s own right, though IMO it doesn’t take as many risks as the original Psychonauts and didn’t quite hit the same emotional highs.
Gave Valheim another shot.
The last couple times I’ve tried it I struggled picking up momentum and progressing in the game, as the initial tutorial seems to be missing a few key steps so I end up spinning my wheels not knowing what to do next.
This time I had Christmas break time to fuck around and find out. Pushed through the initial hurdles and actually made decent progress, including soloing the first boss. It’s a solid game so far, but it could communicate its expectations a bit more clearly.
I picked up Monster Hunter World again last night after playing some Dark Souls Remastered and itching for more of that style combat. I forgot how much better it was than Rise, and I never got around to playing Iceborne. Having a lot of fun with the new stuff, and I think it’ll be my default game this week.
I use it daily for connecting it to my car stereo, and about once a month when I mow my lawn or have to fly on a plane. I’ll never buy a phone without one.
I prefer wired headphones. I don’t want to worry about keeping them charged, and the few pairs of wireless headphones I have tried died or had the buttons stop working after a few uses from getting waterlogged with sweat, while I’ve been using the same pair of $6 wired headphones for 10 years without issues.
I don’t care for Bluetooth or USB audio connections as they don’t always work intuitively, they might take multiple button presses to set up, and every manufacturer seems to think they need to be set up in a slightly different way, while the auxiliary audio cable just works with no setup.
Reus is great! I spent a summer several years back sinking my teeth into it good. It really scratches the itch for playing Civilization when I don’t have time to play Civilization.
I never did get all the achievements. Some of them are crazy hard to pull off within the time limit. Good luck to you if you end up sticking with it.
I’m quite looking forward to Reus 2.
I didn’t have an issue with that in Remnant 1, but I think it was improved on that front. There’s more enemy variety, with several fodder mobs and elites with unique gimmicks, and some of the bosses are straight up weird. The maps are still procedurally generated, but there are more types of maps in the pool. They do still feel samey when you get two maps that use the same chunks, but there is less overlap from map to map.
They also made the area progression part of the world proc-gen, so you can encounter the areas in a different order on different play-throughs. That does help keep the replayability fresh, but it doesn’t fix the issue. It just sort of sweeps it under the rug so that it takes more playthroughs to notice.
Best:
Factorio - The factory must grow.
Vampire Survivors - They keep releasing new content, and I keep devouring it. This game is even more addicting than Cracktorio.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - Best April Fools joke this year, and a solid light visual novel in its own right. This was a pleasant surprise.
Remnant II - My choice for Game of the Year this year. TotK let me down, and while BG3 is solidly in the #2 spot I don’t really vibe with it. Remnant II is an excellent sequel that builds on the strengths while fixing the weaknesses of its predecessor. It’s a hell of a game that still manages to stand out in a year stacked with great titles.
Note: I didn’t play AC6 or the new Street Fighter, so I’ve got no opinion on how they match up.
Worst:
Keywe - A puzzle game where you play as Kiwi birds managing a post office in Australia. Not my thing, but my sister likes it and wanted to play the multiplayer with me. We played online and holy hell this game’s netcode is broken. We kept desyncing mid-puzzle and then whoever was hosting would have to finish the puzzle while the other stood and watched because they couldn’t see the actual gamestate. It’s probably a fine game as a solo or local play experience, but it left a sour impression.
The price.
Bought a used '96 Mazda Protégé off a coworker for $700. Ran it into the ground. Scrapped it for $300 when I could finally afford a better car. Definitely got my money’s worth.
I got to learn what driving without power steering felt like after the compressor locked up and the drive belt shredded. Ended up replacing it with a smaller belt just for the power steering since I couldn’t afford to replace the A/C. Drove with the windows down for a few months. Good times.