Thomas-C's recent activity
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Comment on Texas A&M, under new curriculum limits, warns professor not to teach Plato in ~humanities
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Comment on Advice needed: Getting an elderly parent set up with a home health aide in ~life
Thomas-C Link ParentRequiring authorization jives with my own experience, but I wasn't made to have her do a new assessment, for what it's worth. If your dad's doctor ends up insisting on visiting the ER I think they...Requiring authorization jives with my own experience, but I wasn't made to have her do a new assessment, for what it's worth. If your dad's doctor ends up insisting on visiting the ER I think they should explain what the deal is with that. The risks are real enough that I'd want to be certain doing that is actually necessary.
With us it was surprisingly simple. Talked to the provider, they did authorization/some paperwork, I got a call a few days later, good to go. Could be we got helped out in ways I don't know (my grandmother's provider is truly excellent) but I didn't get the impression we were any different from what's typical around here.
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Comment on Advice needed: Getting an elderly parent set up with a home health aide in ~life
Thomas-C LinkYou had mentioned a medical team, but does your dad have a primary care provider? That's the person I would try to reach first for insight/getting the process started. I have a home health service...You had mentioned a medical team, but does your dad have a primary care provider? That's the person I would try to reach first for insight/getting the process started.
I have a home health service visiting for my grandmother, to help her out with some physical therapy and to spare having to travel for monitoring, and we got everything set up through her PCP. I'm basically in your brother's position where I'm at, I was able to talk with them myself and get things set up. PCP already had an established relationship, so it didn't take much to get done. But, we are rural (there's just the one agency) and she's on medicare - my assumption is that a provider working with the elderly would have some idea on how to get it done for someone with Tricare.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Thomas-C Link ParentIMO, by a large margin AC VI is the one to pick if folks have never played. Even if some of it doesn't hit, it's possible to like enough of it that some duo from the past will be the thing to do....IMO, by a large margin AC VI is the one to pick if folks have never played. Even if some of it doesn't hit, it's possible to like enough of it that some duo from the past will be the thing to do.
Any numbered entry would be fine I think. Look em up first, so you can see it and know what to expect. Last Raven was a trial by fire even knowing what to expect, I would never recommend that one as a first time experience.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Thomas-C (edited )LinkI will forewarn you. You are about to engage with more material about some mech games than anyone should. I have included screenshots throughout to enhance your reading experience. Since finishing...I will forewarn you. You are about to engage with more material about some mech games than anyone should. I have included screenshots throughout to enhance your reading experience.
Since finishing Armored Core: Verdict Day, I went looking around for Armored Core V. That game, turns out, runs like dogshit in RPCS3, and when it doesn't, it crashes at the end of a mission. If there is one way to make Armored Core absolutely intolerable, it's to have a random shot at crashing at the end of a mission. In my disappointment I was struck with a sudden realization: The Xbox 360. That was a real thing. It existed, and games were made for it. And, because it is the future, there is an emulator for it.
After grabbing Xenia, finding iso's and dlc's and all that, I fired it up and it was, after a little bit of fiddling basically perfect. Playable at full speed on the Steam Deck, which pretty much sealed the deal. I was gonna play AC V and then Verdict Day again. The save can go from game to game, I have an idea of a build I like, not a huge time commitment.
AC V in terms of gameplay is basically the same as Verdict Day. VD, when it isn't something you've contracted, is like a sped up/tuned up version of what AC V did. A bunch of slight-yet-important adjustments plus a big expansion on parts on top of a new campaign/content. V is the same basic gameplay albeit a little rougher around the edges. Though, with these it tends to be that being a little rougher often translates to feeling more grounded, which I tend to actually enjoy a bit more. I've written about gameplay enough, so I won't go into it much. What stood out to me with AC V was the story concept - it kicks so much more ass than the games before it, and a significant portion of ass relative to all the other games. Perhaps the most ass depending on what kinds of stories you like.
Unfortunately that cool concept is locked behind a final product that just doesn't communicate it very well. There are some baffling design decisions that make following the story in AC V especially difficult. All four PS3-era games are connected to each other, but it's pretty tough to get that without delving into supplementary material. Just playing through, you are in the story, the characters don't usually know more than you do. You're participating in events that sometimes carry great significance despite not looking much different from other stuff you did. The voice acting can be pretty flat, and some material didn't make it through the production process.
Well, I did it. I went and read the wiki pages and out-of-print art books and all that. Allow me and a robot named "Scanmodo" to do what a lore video does, in less time.
This is a post in two parts. The first is a spoiler. The second is opinions.
What the hell is going on
In AC 4, and For Answer, the stakes had been raised dramatically. Where the games before told a story about humanity putting up with dangerous AI, in these games war had rendered the Earth practically uninhabitable. Corporations had overcome nation-states, locked the world in perpetual war and by the time of your badassery had fooled folks into thinking they could ride out an irradiated planet floating along in big airborne city-ships. You help a group of rebels destroy what keeps the cities afloat to break people of thinking this, and then fire off giant cannons to destroy a network of satellites the corporations built to prevent anyone from escaping to space. This is framed as cleansing the Earth of the sin of the corporations. By the end of the games all you knew was that the endeavor succeeded - cannons fired, cities came down, satellites blew up, humanity had what was supposed to be its one last shot to escape itself.
By Armored Core V it is 100 years later. Only some of the spaceships got off the planet. Most didn't. All around the world, they stood abandoned while the planet got more harsh and everybody had to migrate around to survive. Settlements, cities as we know them, disappeared, except for one in North America just called "The City". It is ruled by a gang-leader-turned-dictator who managed to get into one of the old spaceships and steal a bunch of its tech. His oppressive rule has stoked rebellion, and you, a City Police officer, have decided to join that rebellion. Except, when the game opens the rebellion has failed, and you are making your escape. Across the game you build up your forces, try again, succeed, but are prevented from taking power by an entity known as "The Corporation" - the group who helped the dictator get into the spaceship. They come after you with all kinds of automated weapons, until eventually you face off and learn the organization's true nature.
When the world became locked in perpetual conflict a century ago, the corporations built a supercomputer to try to figure out "the answer" to the problem of, well, being stuck in a pattern of perpetual war. It never found one. When people left for space, because they knew damn well most people were gonna get stuck on Earth they left the computer behind to continue working. The Corporation is that computer, and its aims remain mysterious by the end of the game. In the aftermath of confronting it, you play out a story that fills in some worldbuilding details - you fight a squad of centuries-old cybernetically enhanced humans who have lost all sense of purpose, rescue one of your friends and help her realize her destiny, fight duels with every single other pilot known to the region, typical things you do after squaring off with a hostile supercomputer.
Verdict Day takes place 100 years after that. The groups that formed the rebellion went off and formed what's basically a prototypical nation-state, and ended up discovering there were others doing the same out there. The Earth has regained some of its habitability, so folks spread around and started to develop again. This led to, you might have guessed it, resource wars. The three groups have become embroiled in conflict, and a fourth entity calling itself "The Foundation" is supplying weapons to all of them. It's the same sort of stuff you saw in AC V, so immediately, seems to be our supercomputer friend is at it again, though none of the in-game characters know about that. The person you were in AC V has faded into legend, a barely-remembered myth. Across the runtime of the game, you come to learn more about the supercomputer's aims. It was created from the mind of a person, who by the time of this procedure had become enveloped in a nihilistic urge to destroy everything. The computer, with its task of having to find the answer to perpetual war, determined thanks to the obsession of this man that there isn't one. Humanity will destroy itself, and so the computer has decided it will help, by opening up all of the old spaceships and unleashing automated weaponry upon everyone. You don't end up thwarting this plan either - nope, for the sake of the multiplayer, the game ends with you having inadvertently triggered the computer's final plan. It unleashes the weapons, the world descends into a total war, and the multiplayer was an infinite game of territory conquest and raid bosses. For ten years that was the end of the story.
Except it wasn't. I found a video by a creator named CinnamonLyn, who played the multiplayer when the servers were permanently shut down. Their AC videos are all very good. On that day, they set up a 4v4 team match, where each player was armed with an Ultimate Weapon. The deal with these, was that in exchange for less weapon variety, you could trigger a limited-time state in which using the weapon could practically one-shot anyone. The trade-off is that when the time is up, you are left permanently damaged, and the weapon is no longer usable. Each player was equipped only with one of these weapons, and when the match loaded in they approached each other and let loose. They all missed. So, after a flurry of explosions and noise this group of people was left unarmed and unable to fight each other. They flew around, jumped off of stuff, talked shit, just kinda screwed around until the server shut off and the war was over, forever.
I think that ending is poignant. After playing through what was supposed to be the last ~250 years of humanity, the cycle of perpetual warfare ended in peace. Not through ideals, enlightenment, ingenuity, technology, or sick mech piloting, but through a complete accident of human activity. Folks just did silly shit and then the world ended after the next game finally came out.
So, there you go, a minor obsession has been brought to a close. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Play an Armored Core game. You can find em out in the wild pretty easily, the emulators mostly do the configuring themselves, beat the RAM shortage and play old stuff.What (the hell) I think
Imo, this rocks. A mecha show about a rebellion in The Last City on Earth is something I would watch. Unfortunately, across all four games it is just about impossible to get this just playing through them the one time. Even multiple times, you can easily end up with a distorted interpretation because they all do weird things with endings and mission structure, on top of delivering itself by way of character dialogue more than anything else. AC is opposite to Souls in this respect - characters do a *lot* of talking and they don't *all* tragically die. AC V straight up wrecks its own story, because though its two stories run sequentially, you can play them simultaneously. It just lets you jump into those missions, with cutscenes and everything, right alongside the main narrative, so good luck figuring out what the hell is even going on. Verdict Day makes the obvious change, side missions are on the side.Despite this post being a spoiler for four games together, it doesn't really matter that the broader story gets spoiled. AC, more than Souls, puts gameplay first. It always prioritizes the moment-to-moment experience so a big portion of what's enjoyable can be had without knowing a damn thing about what's going on. The games have no problem throwing out a silly reason to justify a strange, fun encounter. When you know what's going on you can see a bit better the extent of the worldbuilding, and I think that has always been a cut above what you get in a lot of other games. Especially mech games. "Mech game" can mean a lot of different things. Really, mechs are a fantasy vehicle, so if we're gonna put a genre label on it, mine would be "Fantasy Vehicular Combat". There is a range in the "(Mechs)" sub-category, from Gundam to Battletech. Armored Core is center-Battletech. Battletech with Japanese Characteristics. The machine is a thing you work on and improve, tune and tweak, but you go real fast and occasionally pull off anime bullshit when you jerk the controls around the right way. That, as opposed to the machine being a stand-in for a guy doing anime bullshit when you hit the button the one time.
That groundedness is what attracted me to Armored Core in the first place, back when the primary way I played anything was on a PSP. Let me tell you, if you thought a game had bad controls, and you have not tried to do AC (or Monster Hunter) on a PSP, you do not know what bad can be. I made it through the games but the absolute hell of controlling them meant I just didn't investigate much further. As I've replayed them, with nicer looks and remappable controls (there are mods to do analog sticks in the old games), I've come to really appreciate them for being something you just don't see in the world of giant robot video game nonsense. I like my nonsense to be situated in a rough analogue of reality, where machines at least try to correspond to what they would be, if we loosened up on physics a bit and otherwise remained about the same. Armored Core hits the sweet spot, with stories of people being people and mechs that can't (usually) end the earth.
The games are not as difficult as they're made out to be. "Hard" just means "practice", and you can build your way through problems. There are some that tend to be easier, some that tend to be harder, but you can't really go wrong going with your gut. Most things are effective and most builds can win. It's really a matter of how bad you want the fashion build to succeed. Imo, don't play to win, play to try to pull off cool shit. If you can leap across a building, fly over a guy, drop down and smash him to pieces, do that, because that kind of shit is what the game wants you to be doing. Aggression is rewarded, but also ingenuity and patience. Sometimes you plan on getting smashed and just need to out-gun the thing.
I would advocate a certain mindset: For a while you'll just be a Col. Pern Andersman, Brade Gangerton, Zeon Soldier #4, a redshirt. The guy who shows up for a frame or two, gets shot, and no one cares. The little robot will talk shit at you while yours crumples into pieces after a bunch of flashing on the screen. But eventually, your brain will put it all in place and achieve transcendence, your Newtype potential will be unlocked. You'll make it across the story threshold and everyone starts remarking on how much of a terrifying badass you are. The computer talks shit at you and you think, you know what fucker, how bout eating these rockets, and then you'll do it, and you'll say "GOTTEM" before you thought about it. They become like arcade games after you finish them - collect parts, build what you want, see how good you can do it. Each game takes its own approach to that but they all try to offer a little extra. Fromsoft is ready to meet you where you're at if you have a build you like and wanna see how hard you can push it.
If you want to get into the games on their level, aesthetics are as important as the rest. The customization is half the game if you want it to be. You can do paint and stickers and all kinds of shit. Get your kid in on making your robot look sick if you've got one around. As you get more modern the tools for it get more sophisticated. If you like gunpla, it is something made by people who understood. It isn't necessary, but it's intuitive enough and why not do a red one? Do a red one. Then put some black on it. Then put a crab on it. Do a yin-yang. Oh, wait, you can put them together? You can put them together. Next time some asshole in a watermelon green robot says I'm pathetic, they can say it at the crab while the laser sends them back to hell. In the world Armored Core builds, bipedal humanoid robots are the thing people do, everybody has one. They're treated like a completely normal part of the world and folks use the paint and emblems to express themselves. You never actually see human models, so in the end it's sort of like playing through the bleakest Pixar movie. Be a WALL-E if you want.
EDIT: In this little box is some info about what to do to run these, for completeness' sake
PSX/PS2 - Duckstation and PCSX2 don't need anything special, you're free to just do what you think looks good. On a Steam Deck, 3x resolution looks great, widescreen looks nice too if you enable it. Titles that don't have analog support have versions which enable analog support, a place like retrogametalk will have versions with patches pre-applied available.PS3/X360 - RPCS3 is good for the 4th generation games (4, For Answer). You can right-click the game and choose to create a Custom Configuration so they'll boot with the right stuff pre-enabled. All you need is to open the GPU tab and check the box labeled "Write Color Buffers", besides that default settings are fine. If you've never used RPCS3 on the deck before, you can get a more stable picture + fix some sound issues by setting limits on your GPU clocks and refresh rate.
Xenia is best for 5th generation (V, Verdict Day) and requires the most fiddling. You need to use Xenia Canary, and after launch open up xenia-canary.config.toml. Use the search function and change these lines:
apu_max_queued_frames = 8
readback_resolve = true
vsync = false
protect_zero = false
guide_button = false
keyboard_mode = 0The key with these two games is the setting for "readback resolve". If this is set to False, you get much better performance, but your AC will have garbage textures. If you turn it off after a mission begins you can play at full speed with everything looking nice. After launching Xenia, open the Steam Input menu. Map "SELECT + A" to the B key with a Long Press. That way, when the mission begins and you see your mech on-screen, hold B, performance is good. When you see "mission complete", hold B again, worse performance but you'll be good for the next mission. Think about it like hitting the ignition, easy habit. On the deck, reenabling this setting will cause a big lag spike, but the controls are set up where holding B is never necessary during gameplay.
If you want to play other games on Xenia, you don't need to undo these settings. You can copy your executable to a new folder, launch, it's a fresh install with a new config file. Doesn't matter if you're on Windows or Linux. Just be sure to add the executable to steam and force a proton prefix, like any non-steam title. Keep AC in one place, anything else somewhere else, good to go.
If you want to do multiplayer, the Armored Core discord server has preconfigured packages they all play on. Not all features are available, but you can do free battle and raid bosses, folks set those up from time to time/you can ask and a few people will probably do it with you.
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Comment on Her daughter was unraveling, and she didn’t know why. Then she found the AI chat logs. in ~tech
Thomas-C (edited )Link ParentThe goal isn't really to be leveraging fear. Respecting animals is to acknowledge their capacities, framing it as an animal is to deny what the marketing wants while also linking the chatbot to...The goal isn't really to be leveraging fear. Respecting animals is to acknowledge their capacities, framing it as an animal is to deny what the marketing wants while also linking the chatbot to something real the kid probably already has some experience with. The first step toward the danger isn't mere interaction. Believing the chatbot is a person is when you truly stand before the horse's ass. Helping the kid develop a relationship to the product that precludes ever believing that, is the safety. The attempt is to replace the false notion of personhood with something else, so you're free to pick whatever best accomplishes that, but imo wild animals make for a good starting point because their appearance in the world isn't too different from what it's like having these products appear and wreak havoc in our social space.
Edit: I forgot and wanna talk about ghosts. Ghosts used to be people. There is personhood implicit in the concept. My goal is to prevent regarding the chatbot as a person, so I see a ghost metaphor as giving up conceptual ground unnecessarily. Ground the marketing and other people will claim - if I don't try to take control and shape the relationship it will get shaped without me.
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Comment on What video games would you say have the best stories? Feel free to suggest more than one. in ~games
Thomas-C LinkI think a game that gets straight at what you're asking for is Pentiment. It's a fairly short murder mystery adventure game set in 16th century Europe, where most of what you do is talk with folks...I think a game that gets straight at what you're asking for is Pentiment. It's a fairly short murder mystery adventure game set in 16th century Europe, where most of what you do is talk with folks in a small place and make choices to steer along how stuff unfolds/who your character is. The story is all about twists and intrigue, and the dedication to the setting runs deep. Though it doesn't take long to finish, it was one that had me returning to see how other choices played out. What's there is a cut above.
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Comment on Her daughter was unraveling, and she didn’t know why. Then she found the AI chat logs. in ~tech
Thomas-C LinkI was really encouraged by how the family responded to the problem. More examples of folks coming together, building support networks and getting their kids out of the nasty shit are good to have....I was really encouraged by how the family responded to the problem. More examples of folks coming together, building support networks and getting their kids out of the nasty shit are good to have. Over the past year or so, I've ended up in more conversations around this topic than I expected. Shit is frightening, and it's already the case lots of folks are to some extent disconnected from what their kids are doing on their devices. Parents worry, but also, they're busy, and can't give their whole attention 100% of the time to whatever weird thing their kid is up to. The network fills in where the individual falls short.
I think characterizing the chatbots as ghosts is useful for describing them, but in the context of getting folks to recognize the danger I prefer likening a lot of tech to animals. As beautiful and smart as a horse can be, whatever history you have with it won't keep you from eating dinner through a straw if you spend your time standing behind it. Not every instance of standing behind it goes that way, but you're tempting fate doing so, and the horse doesn't care who you are. Your kid could be the smartest, kindest, most reasonable child ever to be conceived and that horse will obliterate their jaw just the same.
The chat bot functions similar. It can be helpful, useful, pleasant, and it can also kick your psyche to pieces. It doesn't care who you are or what history you have with it. As quickly as it will help you it can also dig a sharp claw into your skin. Respect the power as you respect the animal. Framing them as "ghosts" to me makes it harder to get across how real and present the dangers can be. It isn't just kids getting driven into psychosis and trauma by these machines, adults get clawed just as bad when they aren't careful. A lack of experience/technical knowledge can be band-aided by relying on some primitive history, at least is how I've come to see it.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
Thomas-C Link ParentI don't think you're asking weird questions, they're kinda on the money already. If an interaction is really good, I will usually take the initiative on asking if they want to talk again sometime,...I don't think you're asking weird questions, they're kinda on the money already. If an interaction is really good, I will usually take the initiative on asking if they want to talk again sometime, and exchange some contact info. Later on, yeah, when things are slow I might think of them and see if they are up for anything. I might see something that reminds me of them and that kickstarts making some sort of plan.
In the context of the post though, I was thinking of times when I've had folks drop off over not being available on the platform they use the most. We'd have a great conversation, express a mutual interest in staying in touch, but the hurdle of not being able to use their preferred platform was enough to stop that from going anywhere. When I would say, I don't have [platform], the conversation would turn and we'd end up not doing an exchange. It isn't something I'd say is common, just something I've seen more of as time goes on. Opportunities abound so I just keep on elsewhere, but still, happens more, and it didn't really happen at all when I think back around ten or fifteen years.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
Thomas-C LinkI have been gone from social media for around twelve years now. My primary goal was to eliminate the idea of a profile/personal feed. I use stuff like discord for talking to folks, tildes for...I have been gone from social media for around twelve years now. My primary goal was to eliminate the idea of a profile/personal feed. I use stuff like discord for talking to folks, tildes for writing out random thoughts. Tildes replaced what I was doing with reddit. There is no representation of my actual self on the internet at this point, no feed of my life's happenings day to day. Besides reading my walls of text here, there is nothing of me to watch, and folks who know me personally know there is plenty I am not mentioning in those walls of text.
I originally got Facebook I think around 2009, and "deleted" the profile (I never believed that button truly did what it said, but I can't find me, so, good enough) around 2014. I did similar with Twitter and LinkedIn. I never had Instagram, Snapchat, tiktok, etc. I've seen them, I've tried them to know what they do. Same with alternatives like mastodon, bluesky, etc. I don't like any of them as a social space, and their other uses (news for example) end up happening through their sheer ubiquity. I don't need to be on Facebook to know what everyone around is talking about on Facebook, because all they do is talk about what they're doing on Facebook, to oversimplify things a little. When big shit happens it reverberates through all the platforms/spaces, and I end up hearing it one way or another.
I've always built and maintained my own networks of people, personally and directly. When groups would disintegrate I would go make more, and float between. I still do that. Things change, people change, I have no problem with allowing paths to diverge and go find another one to walk alongside. I don't need to know what happens to them after, I don't need to keep them in a friends list "just in case". Building something new can be as simple as asking the cashier a Real question instead of the usual "how are you". I've found myself in all kinds of places and met all kinds of people by just being willing to engage, and to me social media is a diminished, detached version of that activity, plus a whole bunch of obnoxious bullshit. It works, some folks use it well, but personally I'd rather have solitude punctuated with richer experience, and that is only really accomplished when there isn't some spot online where folks can watch you. At least that's been my view for a while. Could change, doesn't seem likely though.
I don't have an absolute sort of opinion about social media writ large. It depends how it's being used, what it means for folks. Plenty of people are deeply entwined and are also, just fine. But I have across the time noticed how much the offline social experience has changed. Walked out on plenty of dates because folks wouldn't stop checking the phone in the middle of a conversation. Ended some relationships because they would not stop sharing things of me on their feeds. I am viewed with more suspicion for not having profiles than in the past. Plenty of people will get to the end of a good conversation and then disappear, because they just don't do communicating without one of the platforms. Employers get weird when they can't spy on you. Some jobs just don't take an application in the first place, because they would rather take someone they can watch. I don't think folks understand very well just how exhausting and tedious it is to talk to people who behave as though the audience is always present, and the prevalence of that has surely gone up over the years.
On the other hand, being able to guarantee a certain kind of privacy has allowed me to develop good connections faster. I am that one friend to plenty of people, that person they can talk to unburdened by having to measure their words and play to an audience. They know what they say will stay between us, that I am thinking of them and not about how anything looks when we're doing things. I get told plenty of things that won't ever be on the platforms, and get to enjoy experiences with them unburdened by thoughts of how others might react. It is easier to live in the moment, which is what I want to really be doing most of the time. Folks are more willing to offer their trust and work together when they aren't the sort to see the lack of profiles with suspicion. While there might be stretches of time in between those good moments, boredom is sometimes exactly what's needed to get a good idea going. It works out, and I'm happier that way.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Thomas-C (edited )LinkI reached the end of Armored Core: Verdict Day. As it is with the other titles, once you've settled on your style and have a persistent idea of your build, the game just flies by. In any AC game...I reached the end of Armored Core: Verdict Day. As it is with the other titles, once you've settled on your style and have a persistent idea of your build, the game just flies by.
In any AC game my favorite style is something I think of like being a mosquito. Tiny, fast, persistence over power, accuracy matters more than strength. Dodgy dogfighting is what I like to do, so the build I stick with optimizes for doing that as much as possible. It's harder in Verdict Day to stick with a single build due to the introduction of damage types, but with time and patience I powered through and ended up with "Redneck". The shoulder bit intercepts missiles, while the frame is made to jump really high and zip back and forth. I basically ignored defensive stats, it's all about less weight and good boosters.
The game's emphasis on terrain means doing a lot of wall jumping, the legs have extra force for that so in many missions it was super fun zig zagging off buildings and catching folks unaware. Though some missions were wicked hard, what I couldn't do charging in I could get done taking cover and springing out. Lots of moments springing around from thing to thing in ways other games just don't do. The final fight was one of the best imo, a real test of dogfighting skill for a build like this one. Blasting forward while the interception missiles fly out, guns blazing, barely holding the reticule in place, the intensity of it was just fantastic. AC is at its best IMO when it takes its guardrails off and pushes you to go all in. That fight takes place in an open field, there is no real cover to utilize and the enemy will never let up, so the answer becomes, as it usually is, to be hyper aggressive and out-gun the thing.
After the game is done, you unlock "Hardcore Mode", which imo should be in every one of these. Hardcore Mode lets you select from a list of options, basically different themed rule changes. You pick your new rules, and then have to complete the game with limited lives. For example, one of them is called "Gambler" - damage dealt is 10x, damage taken is 5x, everything else normal. Another one, "Mr. Confident", reduces damage taken to 0.7, but you only have one attempt. In my ideal world, a new AC would do this + the Hard Mode of the previous generation - same missions, new enemy deployments, new objectives.
Thinking about it from the standpoint of a new player, perhaps strangely I would put Verdict Day pretty low on a recommendation list. It has a certain roughness and clunk that I can imagine would feel pretty weird/off putting if what you're expecting is to fly around and blow shit up in a slick vehicle. You can get to doing that, but the process of getting there can be pretty involved and the demand on your attention steadily increases as the game throws bigger stuff at you. If though you like vehicular combat games, or if you ever played Chromehounds and want something like that, instant recommendation, absolutely hit it up.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Thomas-C LinkI've been playing Armored Core: Verdict Day, because that is the one AC game I have never gotten to play. I didn't have a 360/ps3 when it came out, and for a long time emulation just didn't cut...I've been playing Armored Core: Verdict Day, because that is the one AC game I have never gotten to play. I didn't have a 360/ps3 when it came out, and for a long time emulation just didn't cut it. It struggles sometimes on the steam deck, but on my PC it runs just fine. Folks in the AC discord put together a pack that includes the game, updates and a bunch of other stuff. The pack includes a custom version of rpcs3, but it works basically the same on the most recent version/it isn't actually necessary.
It's an interesting step away from the speed of 4th generation AC, definitely slower/clunkier and the whole game is built around justifying that change. The world was more or less ruined by the radioactive pollution those super machines put out, the earth is just about cooked and folks are left to cobble together what they can find/make. Where 4/For Answer had an emphasis on speed and being airborne, 5/Verdict Day is about sticking to the ground and using terrain. You can still make machines that go airborne, zip around and dodge, but it's an order of magnitude slower, and vaulting over buildings/using cover is more important. I really like some of the sound design - boosters sound loud and crackly, kinetic weapons tend to have a satisfying sha-KOW, machine guns sound like big grinding things. Where AC 4 and 6 give you a sort of sports car, these are monster trucks, is how I like to think of it.
Combat is just as frenetic as ever, and more tense thanks to an overall downgrade in maneuverability. It reminds me a lot more of the older titles, where a lot can go on in a small space because things just don't move as fast. Rather than swoop over big structures and fight in the air you're almost always maneuvering between things and around stuff, using the vault to scale up and over. As much as I enjoyed 6, I think I prefer a setup where terrain is more important. You have to maintain a better awareness of it lest you get cornered/pinned, that just wasn't as much the case in the games before and after. I'm not keen on having to flip between two modes during gameplay, but as tends to be the case in these games, with enough grit and determination you can just not do it and be fine.
The parts selection is spectacular IMO. Having variants on condition and the option to slightly customize behavior is something I wish had made it to AC 6. It drives home that feeling of having to cobble stuff together, and gives you some incentive for retrying/exploring what you can do. Melee feels brutal and nasty, difficult to do but fun when you get the hang of it. I'm not a huge fan of the super weapons but they are admittedly pretty awesome when you land them. I'm excited to continue, I absolutely love these games and it's awesome to get a fresh experience after playing the others to death.
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Comment on Things are crumbling around me and a lot of it is my fault in ~health.mental
Thomas-C LinkI'll just be blunt, I see no issue telling boss what he wants to hear for long enough to get a move made. He unloaded because he is evidently comfortable with you, that is a mistake on his part...I'll just be blunt, I see no issue telling boss what he wants to hear for long enough to get a move made. He unloaded because he is evidently comfortable with you, that is a mistake on his part and you can exploit it to help get yourself out of there. Let him talk, observe and note the details, use that to keep a dialogue that avoids suspicion and doesn't interfere with your goals. It's up to you where the lines are on what you will do, but personally I would have zero problem just saying whatever achieves my objective in a situation like that.
IMO, the shame you've described is understandable but in my view is an unfairness to yourself. You cannot control the circumstance and lack means to change it. Calling the guy out on his nonsense, realistically would not accomplish much of anything and likely just put you in peril. Best you can do is take care of yourself, and it sounds like you've got a clear idea of what you need to do on a more strategic level. So now it's tactics and ops until the strategy is fulfilled. Rather than see it as a battle you have already lost, I would reframe it as having discovered you are in unfriendly territory and must avoid battle altogether to get your ass out of there. You're not on the front. You're behind their lines, with no firepower, no support, and no one actually gave you any orders, if we're gonna keep up the martial metaphor.
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Comment on I can't describe it, but I know it when I see it in ~life
Thomas-C (edited )LinkTake me with a grain of salt. I'm just a guy who knows some parents. Occasionally I've talked with them and their kids about stuff like this, because the parents get interested when they hear...Take me with a grain of salt. I'm just a guy who knows some parents. Occasionally I've talked with them and their kids about stuff like this, because the parents get interested when they hear their "tech guy" say they're right to think the machinery is malign and the content is dogshit.
The kid is taking in entertainment. Fundamentally, outside the particulars, they're doing something we all do. They find it entertaining to see other kids playing, I get that. I've certainly watched plenty of folks wreck some games I like. If kid can explain a bit why they like it, that might give you an opening to alter/divert the interest by ripping them out of the "intended" experience, and putting them on to things you know are more constructive.
Let's assume for example they like watching kids playing with action figures. No malign influence, it really is just other kids playing with their toys doing silly kid stuff. Maybe your kid likes that because, when they think about it, they feel like they're getting to play too. Maybe they'd like to do more playing, but can't. That's a relatable feeling. But the video isn't that. Fundamentally, it isn't. Those other kids can't see you. They don't know you. They can't share their toys, and letting you watch isn't really sharing, because they didn't make that video for you. I know they say they did, but that's just what everybody says so folks will keep watching their videos. What you're seeing is not "a kid playing", you're seeing "a kid who once played". They're not playing with you, you're not playing with them. Intentionally kill the magic, and be ready with a followup compromise that still furthers your ends.
Sticking with the example: Ok kid, if you wanna see a toy you might like, sure, here's a channel that really shows you the toy and if you like it, tell me about it, maybe some time I can find that for you. Carrot. Through those interactions you can develop dialogue, get em comfortable talking about what they're seeing with you, and that gives you a baseline for knowing when they're seeing wild shit (changes in dialogue can belie changes in content consumption). When things shift and it appears they've wound up somewhere malign, out comes the stick: Ban the channel, the app, time em out from all of it, whatever you think is an appropriate way of limiting access. Because there's a history of talking about it, you've given yourself an opportunity to explain why the things are bad without immediately triggering a defiant response (at least, hopefully). You can recall how the change occurred, the real things you noticed and why the channel relates to that. That gives the kid something to chew on, awareness of the broader picture, little bit at a time.
Most of the folks I know struggle because they just don't have a dialogue going around their content consumption. Their kids are in different worlds from them. Some of that is a function of time and business, some of it is reluctance to see the full picture, some of it if I'm honest is them just being irresponsible/not giving enough of a shit, it varies person to person. But, in my very, very limited sampling, folks who have (or built) a regular, consistent sort of dialogue around what they are seeing are better able to handle it when the machinery does its malignant bullshit. The trust between the two of you, your bond, is what defeats the machine in the long run.
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Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk
Thomas-C Link ParentAppreciate you taking the time, man am I glad I stopped when I did. I played MTG in card shops since the late 90's/early 2000's, left for a time and came back when Commander started being a bigger...Appreciate you taking the time, man am I glad I stopped when I did. I played MTG in card shops since the late 90's/early 2000's, left for a time and came back when Commander started being a bigger thing. When it started to be clear they'd be blending franchises I sold all my cards, downloaded Forge and never looked back.
It's kinda funny the Spiderman set was lame, because my only experience of that until reading your post was saying to myself "wtf? No, disabled, the hell is this shit". Now that I know, the hell that is, I'm glad I disabled it.
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Comment on Your favorite deeply unpopular music in ~music
Thomas-C Link ParentIt's a tightrope of a genre sometimes, but between the intensity and silly/crazy stuff the bands do I just can't step off.It's a tightrope of a genre sometimes, but between the intensity and silly/crazy stuff the bands do I just can't step off.
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Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
Thomas-C LinkRecently I tried cooking something in a new way and ended up preferring it. I have a recipe for red beans and rice I kinda continuously adjust and mess with. I absolutely love Cajun food and it's...Recently I tried cooking something in a new way and ended up preferring it.
I have a recipe for red beans and rice I kinda continuously adjust and mess with. I absolutely love Cajun food and it's the fastest way of getting some without having to rely on the store for more than some basics. Anyway, in cooking it I would usually just boil up a pot of rice and use the pot of beans to put all my spices, meats and things together, simmer all of that and just ladle it over the cooked rice. What I did instead, was to cook the rice in a skillet - a cup and a half of dry white rice, browned slightly in oil, then I poured about 3 cups of water in and let it sit on low heat to absorb. Along with it: Garlic, onions, chopped bacon, red pepper flakes.
While that was going on, I sliced up sausage and sauteed it with a little salt, paprika, and cumin. When it had a nice, crispy sear I got it all together and chopped it up. I drained a can of red beans, seasoned them with a little bit of cider vinegar and just kept em to the side. When the rice had finished, I moved it to a big bowl, and fluffed it around with a quarter stick of butter and a drizzle of sesame oil. Tossed in the chopped sausage and beans, mixed it up, and let it sit for a minute.
It was incredible. The rice was firm without feeling undercooked, and had a much more distinct flavor. The flavors of the ingredients felt more even, and more apparent. The bacon especially came through better than when I would add that to a pot of simmering beans. It was even better with some fresh green onions and a teensy bit of pepper sauce. I ended up sprinkling some oregano in, done deal. I think this is how I'm gonna do it from here out.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Thomas-C LinkI ended up heading back to Bannerlord now that its dlc, War Sails, is out. It is hard going back to the base game, but I think the naval combat is gonna really shine once the patching settles and...I ended up heading back to Bannerlord now that its dlc, War Sails, is out.
It is hard going back to the base game, but I think the naval combat is gonna really shine once the patching settles and folks play around with it. It's very fun building a fleet, customizing the ships a bit, and taking on folks out in the world. I had an encounter against a group of corsairs, in which during a rainstorm we bobbed across the waves firing off fire pots and burning their ships down. In another encounter, I took a medium galley sort of thing and rammed the shit out of a little bandit boat so bad folks flew off into the sea. It's amusing too, watching a bunch of constantly-yelling dudes swim like mermaids in full plate as they try to get back up on the boat.
On its own it feels a little rough, in that the ai kinda isn't that good and they don't do a lot of complex maneuvering, but having seen what folks can do modding the game it's got me very excited. I cannot wait for a proper, combination land and sea siege. Despite it being in their trailer it isn't actually in the game, but I've noticed some overhaul mods mention managing to put that together.
In the meantime though, I've gone back to my mod pack while I wait for stuff to get worked. After that campaign I did earlier in the year, I spent some time just putting more mods together, in my eternal quest to see how big of a ball of systems I could duct tape together. With a new character, I went out into the world and hunted wild game to get some money together. The big ticket hunt was a pack of bears, that I ...BEARrly... managed to bag thanks to finding some traps. After trading the hides I hired some guys, and trained em up by beating the hell out of each other in an arena pit. For a while we roamed around, and hit it big on a group of deserters. When big battles happen, the survivors of the losing side will sometimes desert, and we scored some excellent equipment ambushing them in a forest. With some more money in hand, I went back to the city we trained at, made friends with some alley bandits, and worked out becoming a gang boss.
While I got started, the wider world turned. Different clans got scooped up by the kingdoms, others made their own minor factions, and mercenary bands went around hunting down bandits and assisting different armies. Commanders, after winning big battles would sometimes execute their rivals, creating new tensions between kingdoms. Border regions got real spicy, and sometimes those skirmishes would evolve into broader conflicts as the kings decided, you know what its time to settle some ancient scores. Each year a little message comes up regarding the Tournament of Champions ("LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE"), where the top lords all over the world head to a randomly chosen city and duke it out for big prizes. One kingdom ended up in the beginnings of a civil war, with one group of nobles deciding their king was no longer legitimate. Two other kingdoms revived an ancient grudge and are fighting hard over territory. New clans arise now and then, with the possibility they'll become their own factions or join with the kingdoms.
I'm hopeful all this stuff will make its way to the new version of the game, because omg I need ship fights in an environment that turns this much. I know folks tend not to like the idea of a game depending on mods to be really good, and they're right to think it can sometimes be very tedious to manage, but honestly having seen what's in War Sails plus what already got done for the base game, yes please, I will suffer some tedium if I can have all this activity and be king of pirate island.
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Comment on The lossless scaling plugin is officially on the Decky Store in ~games
Thomas-C Link ParentYour reply had me thinking to put a number to it, so I did. 30fps has always been my baseline, coming from a history of portables and crappy hardware. I didn't get into PC gaming in a dedicated...Your reply had me thinking to put a number to it, so I did.
30fps has always been my baseline, coming from a history of portables and crappy hardware. I didn't get into PC gaming in a dedicated way until about halfway through college, and started on an extraordinarily crappy laptop. I played the first STALKER game on that machine, at like 24 fps with a trackpad, all the way to the end. It would not surprise me if that permanently altered my brain, because it felt like it did at the time. I just had to see what was in that fucking power plant, I can't explain it, so what if the grey matter gets dented.
The plugin impresses me most in Armored Core VI and Monster Hunter World, in those two it feels the most like free performance, and that being a thing at all just dazzles me if I'm honest. The feeling of "I just downloaded more ram and it worked" gets me a bit.
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Comment on The lossless scaling plugin is officially on the Decky Store in ~games
Thomas-C (edited )Link ParentMy emphasis is on keeping a stable image, because the plugin doesn't take in the same way to every game. With Elden Ring, for example, the shimmering to me is just intolerable. It feels OK to me...My emphasis is on keeping a stable image, because the plugin doesn't take in the same way to every game.
With Elden Ring, for example, the shimmering to me is just intolerable. It feels OK to me to play, but is distracting to look at because of its perspective/camera position relative to what's on screen - you see stuff shimmering at the edges pretty much all the time during travel, and the player character will flit out of existence turning the camera side to side. In Anomaly such distortion is much less present, so if you don't have an issue with the input latency that one is more of a success story. Hopefully that makes some sense.
Ok Socrates, time to get up. It's time to drink the hemlock again. I know, you're a ghost, what's the point, look man I'm with you on it but I don't control what goes on up there. They just hand me the packet, a paycheck, and threaten my family, you know how it is. I got you some Splenda, look under the cup. If you're up before tomorrow I'll bring you a book, but heads up they cut the list down again. Can't be letting your youthful mind get corrupted with...lemme see..."gender ideology". That's a new one. Well, not really, you know, but that's what they're calling it this time around. Your boy P really got em, y'all both been dead forever and they still come at y'all, that's crazy. Aren't all the youth you talked to dead too? Not dead enough, yeah you're right on that. Anyway, cup's on the tray, I'm on cleaning duty again so I'll get you squared later. I got tomorrow off, so Steve will be bringing you the next one. Make sure he gives you the new jumpsuit, supposed to be orange this time, with a little eagle patch. He's not very bright so you might need to remind him. Remember, it's your ass if you don't have one next week, these new folks are big on appearances. Anyway, good talk as always. See you on Monday.