Lurker > adjl

Sarcasthma posted...

Are those deleted messages his?

Yep. He seems to be weirdly obsessed with harassing somebody who's explicitly uncomfortable with the subject at hand, instead of just accepting that there's nothing constructive he can contribute and moving on like a normal person would. Perhaps that's me shaming his own OCD or other mental health issues that make him incapable of leaving well enough alone, which isn't necessarily a productive way of dealing with such issues, but I'm inclined to suggest that pushing him to admit his problems has the potential to be a useful first step to seeking treatment. Where his issues are affecting others and not just himself, I think that's not unreasonable of me.

Is there a particular reason why you're trying to rile up TC's OCD?

rjsilverthorn posted...

Does the game without the DLC have any of the newer characters? I feel like they released some of them in an update when the DLC was delayed.

It looks like the update that came out alongside the DLC added Baby, Vagabond, Technomage, and Vampire, and the update that came alongside the full release in June 2023 added Apprentice, Cryptid, Fisherman, Golem, King, and Renegade. There are 14 characters added by the DLC that aren't in the base game.

rjsilverthorn posted...

Overall I am not a fan of the new map. It has fewer enemies, which means less money in the shops, so the overall shop economy suffers. There are some fun new characters with the DLC.

That's unfortunate. I'm sure it balances out overall, but such a huge part of what makes games like this fun is being able to become laughably overpowered if you play your cards right, and that really hinges on having a strong economy in this case.

rjsilverthorn posted...

I have clears on both maps with all of the characters, so there are a few I probably won't bother trying D5 with since I just don't find them enjoyable to play. I can't see myself trying Arms Dealer on D5 for example.

I don't have the DLC (I got the base game for free from Epic, saving myself the whole $5 it would have normally cost), so just the one map for me. I get where you're coming from, though. Even clearing D3 with Arms Dealer was a bit of a crapshoot, and not really what I'd call a fun challenge, and that's been true of a few characters. Still, though, a great time overall.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The last time I was gone for about a month people here were threatening to try and dox me and call the police to try and make sure I wasn't dead or something.

That's easily avoided by announcing your departure to make sure nobody's concerned about you.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

But even beyond that, most of us still here at this point are basically addicts. We're trapped in habitual behaviors ingrained over years, which often aren't easy to break even if you want to. It's like telling an alcoholic they don't have to get drunk. They know that. Knowing that doesn't really stop the behavior.

Sure, but if you're going to make a habit of whining about how you hope the site gets shut down, you should probably be directing that sentiment inward and trying to break yourself of that addiction instead of telling everybody you hope their fun gets ruined. If that alcoholic comes along to the bar and spends the whole time insisting that alcohol should just be banned while all of their friends are trying to have a good time with their drinks, they're not exactly going to be a popular choice to invite next time.

Probably not. Broadly, I don't really care if most people know because most people don't know me and therefore won't care, and even the potential embarrassment of people close to me knowing probably wouldn't outweigh the money, but if nothing else, I have searched for illicit copies of copyrighted material, and my history would allow the holders of that copyright to pursue legal action over that. That would wipe out a solid chunk of the money pretty quickly, and depending on how that legal trouble played out it could also affect my employment prospects moving forward.

There's a fair chance I'd still come out on top after the dust settled, because $2.5 million is a sizable amount (not quite "never have to work again" money, but definitely life-changing) and I don't think it would all disappear, but it's more of a gamble than I think would be wise.

rjsilverthorn posted...

I still pop into that occassionally to try and finish some of the remaining D5 runs or if I just want to do something silly like get a ridiculous amount of luck or farming.

I'm settling on closing the book on it once I've unlocked everything, with the self-imposed limitation of beating D3 or higher with each character (aside from ones I used early on that I don't necessarily feel like going back to). It'll still probably be one to come back to periodically, because that's just how these games are, but for now I'll probably move on to a different low-investment game once I get a win with Technomage, rather than trying to push for D5 on everyone.

Brotato (nearly finished)
Pac Man World 2 (GC)
SMT Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS)

Plague Tale: Innocence may be my next PC game, since I've had it queued up as the next randomly-selected game in my backlog clearing efforts for quite a while but shelved it because Factorio Space Age and Xenoblade X DE came out and were higher priorities than backlog clearing. We'll see if I feel like it when the time comes, otherwise The Bard's Tale (2004) has also been queued up for a similar length of time.

Beveren_Rabbit posted...

I refuse to get a new printer because I don't want to deal with DRM. New printers require software updates that disable your printer if you use third-party ink. I really like my 90's scanner+printer capable of faxing that accepts cheap ink that lasts a long time.

The cheap HP multifunction printer we'd had for years had an update that started requiring an account to use the scanner. I dredged up an old driver and just used that instead, because they can shove that right up their inkjet.

I got the same email. Pretty much just "hey we haven't forgotten about you we just haven't picked you yet," which I appreciate because complete radio silence while other people are talking about having received their invitations would have raised that question.

That's correct. Religions don't have to be theist, though.

captpackrat posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/17b81aa2.jpg

High stakes bumper cars.

I've actually considered strapping a propane cylinder to the back of my bike to encourage drivers to give me space. It'd be empty, of course, and in practice it probably wouldn't actually end up doing much if somebody did hit me because real-life propane cylinders aren't like movie ones, but I imagine it'd be a pretty effective deterrent. It'd add quite a bit of weight, though, unless I used like a fake plastic one or something.

agesboy posted...

outside of a bit of min-maxing (passing on the best gender-locked skill in the game, galeforce, to as many male children as possible since it's gender-locked), it has no lasting impact. the average player is probably unaware of the skill's existence until they already have a bunch of children, and even more seasoned gamers are probably unaware you can even pass down gender-locked skills in specific circumstances at all. and even then once you get all the kids pumped out, you will always have more than a full team of galeforce-capable characters- min-maxing will only get you another handful

people just think too hard about it

Ah yes, Galeforce. That was it. An option for min-maxing, but not remotely necessary.

Revelation34 posted...

Not as bad as the ones who claim atheism is a religion.

It's not entirely invalid. A definite "there is no god" is no less a statement of faith than a definite "there is a god." The claim falls apart in that atheism has no defined structure, dogma, or teachings beyond "there is no god," whereas actual religions have all of those things, but the core belief/disbelief in a god isn't really any different.

agesboy posted...

Awakening and Fates have future babies but they really affect nothing except the hair color and a few supports for the child characters

Didn't parentage affect the abilities that child characters had in Awakening? I remember that being a pretty meaningful strategic consideration (not that 13 was hard enough to need super-serious strategic consideration).

I'd say they're pretty evenly matched.

It's pretty common these days for deceased people to end up being in heat for at least as long as the cremation takes.

Damn_Underscore posted...

not good

And how do you propose defining an objective "good" in the context of entertainment media?

Damn_Underscore posted...

That's why it's poor logic. Unless you're just using a very narrow definition of bad. Bad doesn't necessarily mean evil or hurtful to humanity as you are implying

How else do you propose defining an objective "bad" in the context of entertainment media?

There's no such thing as "too old," so long as you aren't dating a minor as a full adult.

Now, saying that, as you get older with no dating experience, you'll find it harder to find potential partners that are similarly inexperienced and/or are willing to tolerate your inexperience. Like most things, dating and relationships are something that you get better at with practice, so if you haven't had that practice, odds are you'll end up making some mistakes. That's normal, but if you're in your 30's or 40's and dating somebody who already spent their teens and 20's on the receiving end of those same mistakes from other people, they may not be as quick to forgive them as they once were.

There isn't really much you can do about that. Just be honest and don't try to pretend you're more experienced than you are, accept that you'll have some failures stemming from that inexperience, and try to learn from your mistakes. Whatever mistakes you make, if you can communicate a genuine desire to grow from them, that'll go a long way toward making a prospective partner feel like a relationship with you is worth pushing through those issues. Really, that's true of any relationship regardless of differences in experience or any other potential underlying problem.

The main things that can damage electronic devices are power surges and brownouts. In both cases, the adapters that let you plug the devices into the wall already do quite a bit to mitigate the harm these issues can cause, and if you're using a surge protector on top of that, they're probably fine.

That said, an outlet that randomly disconnects suggests a wiring issue that should be looked at by an electrician sooner rather than later. That could potentially be a serious fire risk, which is a whole lot more worth worrying about than getting to play your DS for an extra hour.

I quite like the Switch Pro controller, but the GC button layout deserves special recognition, as does how comfortable it is to be able to hold my arms however I want with Wiichucks and separated Joycons (this is also handy for accessibility reasons). The WiiU Gamepad also has significant merits, though that's more for the extra functionality of the second screen. As a controller, it's not the greatest.

Huh. I guess the New models are more complicated than the basic 3DS models (those really are just "remove cover, unplug battery"). Still, not a terribly complicated repair. Just don't lose the screws and remember the order in which you take things apart so you can reverse that to put them back together.

RJP_X posted...

Is it normal though that after all that time from December it still had the full bars of battery?

The 3DS battery meter isn't linear. The last two segments disappear much, much faster than the first one. It's better to think of it less as "you have X% battery left" and more as "you're fine for a while," "you might want to charge soon," and "you need to charge now."

And, even if it does indicate a problem, it's not a problem that's actually going to hurt you.

RJP_X posted...

I remember it use to drain faster before.

Does "before," by any chance, mean when you were actually using it to play games and not just staring at the battery meter for hours on end to see how quickly it goes down?

RJP_X posted...

I don't trust myself to do technical stuff on game systems.

If you can figure out how to put a game card into the system, you've already developed most of the necessary skills to replace the battery. It's literally a matter of removing a few screws, unplugging the very obvious battery, plugging the new one in, and putting the screws back. Everything is shaped so it only fits one way, you don't need to move anything that's been glued down, there aren't multiple layers of screwed-down pieces to work with... it's about as simple and foolproof as repairs get. You'd have to genuinely try to screw it up.

Damn_Underscore posted...

By this logic you can't call any form of entertainment bad, as long as it is entertaining someone

Precisely.

Unless it causes harm, every piece of entertainment that entertains anyone deserves to exist, because it is serving its purpose. This is not to say that all entertainment is equal or that everyone needs to like everything, but this idea that entertainment catering to "poor taste" shouldn't exist has never been and will never be anything more than pretentious elitism from people who think hating on popular culture is an acceptable substitute for having a real personality.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Yes. Because those people have terrible taste and should never be rewarded for their poor life choices.

If they're having more fun than you in the same circumstances and that fun isn't causing any kind of objective harm, their taste is better than yours.

MICHALECOLE posted...

Anything is microwaveable if you arent afraid

Some things are even microwaveable more than once.

The camera is significantly less demanding than most games, and the official battery life estimate for a 2DS XL is 3.5-6.5 hours while playing a 3DS game. 6-8 sounds pretty normal, especially considering that having the wireless turned on isn't going to do much of anything anymore because there's only going to be incoming data if there's another 3DS transmitting something nearby.

Again, though, a 2DS is not something where you need to worry about optimizing your battery life. You can expect the battery to last 6-8 years (if not more) of regular use before it loses enough charge-holding ability to be a problem, and even when it does, replacing the battery is a cheap and easy fix. Worst case scenario, you're spending $20 a year sooner than you expected.

I know saying "don't worry about this" to somebody with OCD isn't exactly helpful, but try to recognize that this is a case where you do have the power to solve any problems that suboptimal charging might cause. Battery life and charging practices can be a significant OCD trigger because you know for certain that it's possible to screw it up, but you also won't see the consequences of screwing it up until you're years down the road and are potentially facing an expensive repair/replacement as a result of your carelessness. When you can't get feedback on whether or not you're worrying enough, it can be easy to spiral into believing that you need to worry more.

Here, though, while you still can't get feedback on whether or not you're worrying enough, you can be certain that anything you screw up here won't actually hurt. It's a cheap, easy repair that you won't need to do until you decide that the reduction in battery life is bothering you. There won't be any greater consequences, and you can find some comfort in knowing that.

Glob posted...

I was never massively bothered if somebody thought I was gay because of using the word partner. Its just an observation that the word, as a means to communicate, didnt always do a good job.

Yeah, that's about where I am. They think I'm gay? Either they'll figure out that their assumption was wrong when I use female pronouns to refer to her later in the conversation, or the interaction will be short enough that their assumptions don't matter. There's a slim chance that somebody might bust out some angry homophobia because of that assumption, but that chance is getting slimmer by the day as "partner" is increasingly being used as more than just a euphemism for a same-sex SO (with the added bonus of making it easier for gay people to use the term without outing themselves), and it's pretty easily defused by explicitly correcting them if it comes to that. However it plays out, it's no skin off my back.

Glob posted...

However, youll always be contending with other peoples preconceptions. For example, with that partner, we lived together for 11 years, bought a house together, all that jazz, and people would still routinely ask me when I was going to settle down.

Indeed. I'm lucky that nobody close to me is in that boat, but it still occasionally comes up. Helping my girlfriend's mother (whom I tend to think of as my MIL despite that not technically being her relationship to me) move into a seniors' apartment last year, one of her new neighbours came out to chat while we were unloading some stuff and she introduced me as her daughter's boyfriend, and the neighbour started saying things like "oh, hopefully he'll be your son-in-law soon!" and we just kind of smiled awkwardly. I don't think he picked up on the awkwardness (because seniors offering unsolicited commentary on strangers' relationships don't usually have that kind of situational awareness), but I was pretty glad that we finished loading the cart shortly after he started talking.

OhhhJa posted...

Yeah partner or significant other makes it sound like you're in business together or something lol

Not necessarily in business, but it's like what you'd put in the "relationship" field when listing them as an emergency contact or doing taxes. It's just such stiff, formal language that using it in casual conversation feels odd to me, as much as it probably is better than "girlfriend" (which is arguably too casual to use for a committed long-term relationship, though I personally don't mind it).

I don't really care about potential gay connotations behind "partner," but I do feel like it's overly clinical for everyday speech, so I tend to stick with "girlfriend" in more casual settings. That's not a great fit when we've been together for eight years and living common-law for seven of those, but it does the job.

My guy, just use the system normally and don't worry about optimizing the battery life. A replacement battery for a 2DS costs like $20 and takes five minutes to swap out. Just use the system however you want until you start to find that a charge isn't lasting as long as you'd like, then replace it and continue doing the same thing for another decade.

Blightzkrieg posted...

That's a really thoughtful take hubby let's skip the rubber tonight

At some level, I'm disappointed that you didn't pair "rubber" with "hubber," but I also can't really think of a way to work it in there that would make it a satisfying rhyme, so... meh.

Revelation34 posted...

You clearly do not know what Manuka honey is.

I know that I can buy 500 grams for $25 CDN (albeit not the highest-grade stuff). $300 worth would be a ludicrous amount of honey to put in any sort of personal-scale dish.

Haruhi's season 2 comes to mind. I wouldn't necessarily say that the good parts are the best thing ever, but they are quite enjoyable, but then half of the episodes are completely worthless.

The idea of sharing entertaining candid videos of everyday life in a relationship can be fine, particularly for couples that naturally settle into a relationship that's fun to watch. The problem, of course, is that as soon as a camera starts rolling, people start acting and you don't have candid videos anymore, especially once a given creator becomes popular and there's pressure to produce more content than they'd naturally be able to.

Damn_Underscore posted...

Maybe but there are so many of these cookies made decades ago than are still sitting unearthed and perfectly good. I personally at least do not need another Jurassic Park movie. Also seeing that the budget for this movie was $265 million is pretty cringey

There are indeed many cookies in the world. You don't have to eat all of them. Just pick and choose the ones you're in the mood for when you feel like snacking and ignore the rest of the cookie shelf as appropriate.

You're never harmed by the existence of cookies you don't eat.

As a blanket statement, putting your partner into uncomfortable situations by deliberately doing something that's out of the ordinary for your relationship solely for the sake of making them feel uncomfortable is a pretty bad thing to do. Doing it just so you can record and share that discomfort for Internet points is even worse.

Revelation34 posted...

That would cost like $300 because of the honey alone.

You might be putting too much honey in things.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Or by sailing the high seas.

I'd count that as skipping buying them.

hockey7318 posted...

Jesus, that dog sperm one is fucked.

Chelle sighting.

TimeForAction posted...

If you think people are going into the franchise at this point expecting a great movie then youre missing the point. These are movies that are just fun to watch. Strip out the pretension and snobbery and just enjoy a popcorn flick at the movies.

Indeed. Not every meal has to be a gourmet feast. Sometimes you just want a cookie, and there's nothing wrong with enjoying that cookie.

Ogurisama posted...

Yes I am, I got my invite early Friday. Sounds like no more invites have gone out since Friday evening though.

I'm not sure when the non-priority offers will be going out, but presumably they'll give the priority folks a week or two to make their decision. I'm not holding my breath for an offer, given that it's so much easier to just make an account than to make an account and also subscribe to NSO and have 50 hours of play time, but I figure it can't hurt to try.

GanonsSpirit posted...

Nah, I'm not supporting $80 games.

Realistically, buying or not buying a Switch 2 isn't going to amount to taking a position on $80 games. $80 will become the new norm for games that are now $70 now that Nintendo's been the first to take that step (though even then it sounds like most first-party Nintendo games will be $70). The only way you're going to be able to express disapproval of that change is to avoid buying games at that price, whether by skipping them altogether or by waiting for sales/used copies.

Accrovideogames posted...

Considering Nintendo plans on illegally wiretapping users and remote bricking consoles, no.

I'll be very surprised if console modders don't find a way around the remote bricking pretty quickly, making it a pretty moot point because it won't be affecting anyone that isn't trying to mod the console and those that are will be able to avoid it. It's just another chapter in the eternal arms race between pirates and publishers. It's not necessarily a good thing, but I'm not too concerned about it.

Apparently Japan is God?

I'll give you three shiny nickels if you promise one to both PO and Hockey but then eat it yourself while they watch.

They could argue that, but they would be wrong. Their inability to accept that they don't know the truth does not make the truth any less unknowable.

Are you an NSO subscriber? I did throw my hat in, but as a non-subscriber I don't get to be part of the first wave.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It's the opposite of that. They would argue that they know exactly what God is and what He wants, and that there is zero uncertainly. And if you disagree, you're an ignorant infidel attempting to lead them away from the truth, and should probably be punished (or killed) for it.

That's punishing you for blasphemy, though, not winning a bet. It still can't ever be confirmed one way or the other, so a hypothetical bet on the nature of God is fundamentally inconclusive.

captpackrat posted...

Most casinos use multiple decks, as many as 8, which significantly reduces the advantage of counting. And they shuffle more frequently, which resets any count.

Yep, there are ways to minimize the advantage the player can get that don't involve outright kicking people out (which, while the casino's within their rights to do it, is a bit of a buzzkill).

One-off error codes and crashes aren't a good reason to get a whole new system. Just keep an eye on them moving forward and if you get any more crashes, see if you can find some common element between them, otherwise it's nothing to be concerned about until you start seeing them frequently.