I was wondering if anybody had any tips for muscling through a game. I've got a few games I want to play or go back to, such as Stardew Valley (I completed it before the 1.3 update, wanna play 1.4), and Factorio (I bought in a fit of passion, haven't gotten an hour in). There are others, but these are the two I find myself going "I'm going to play this!" and I just never get to, and it's not for time.

I like the concepts of these games, and I've got something like 135 hours on Stardew Valley, but seem to get bored after I've restarted it (I lost some key items and bugs caused me to never get them back, plus the mine completion bug fixed in 1.3). I started Slime Rancher after playing through it in early access, but can't seem to get back into it after it went gold a couple years ago.

I realize I'm sort of asking for a way to force myself to play games, but has anybody done this? I'm thinking for a given game I can set smaller goals to strive for, and work on doing that, but was wondering if anybody has any ideas.

A recent discussion got me thinking about how a lot of the standard genre descriptions for games are either opaque to the unfamiliar or seemingly incongruous with what they are describing. Almost any game can be described as a "role playing" game because you "play" the "role" of a given character. Adventure games often aren't very "adventurous" and often just mean that characters talk to each other instead of shoot each other. In survival games you survive; in racing games you race; in casual games you... well, usually match 3 but not always? Also why are we so focused on camera for some games (e.g. first-person shooter) but not for others (e.g. third-person sports)?

So, let's throw away everything we know about genres and start fresh. No baggage from gaming history; no widely understood conventions; no games that reference other games (e.g. "Souls-like"). Your goal is to make gaming genres as clear and accurate as possible, at the expense of convenience, tradition, and, in some cases, good taste.

Turn "roguelike" into "procedural death labyrinth". Turn "battle royale" into "shrinking-zone dead-is-dead killfest". Feel free to propose not just genre redefinitions but whole a whole taxonomy if you feel it's warranted. After all, some genres need a hierarchy of identifiers.

Be as formal or loose as you want, and the main purpose of this is to have fun, though if some great new terms happen to fall out of it you won't hear me complaining.

We have about a million films showing vampires, zombies, werewolves, and ghosts.

But despite rich folklore traditions we see very few films about other creatures. There is a handful of films dealing with leprechauns, pixies, trolls, fairies, witches, goblins, gnomes, etc. And that's just the western traditions. We have huge range of unexplored creatures from around the world. If I had to sit through yet another vampire film I'd rather it was based on adze traditions than Bram Stoker reinventions.

Why are there so many films that tread the same ground about vampires, zombies, and ghosts, and so few films about everything else?

I'm not necessarily asking for the scariest one you've played but for your personal favorite/best, based on whatever criteria you choose. Games that are more horror-lite/spooky still count as well, so feel free to consider and include those.

With regards to your pick: what made it so good? In what ways did its use of horror add to your experience?

Given that a lot of horror relies on surprise, subverting expectations, or the unknown, please give spoiler warnings if you plan to discuss important aspects/plot points that might ruin the game for others.

Hey there,

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Someone suggested I add this here, hope you enjoy my collection of music. Been collecting/doing write ups about my favourite tracks since 2013 (~4.5k posts) and last year I started re-thinking how to organize music + putting together playlists on the major streaming platforms.

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Chill Beats | lofi hip hop, chillhop & jazzhop

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud | YouTube

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Groovy Beats | instrumental hip hop, soul, funk & bossa nova

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud | YouTube

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Funky Flavors | electro funk, break beats, hip hop & electro soul

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Soulful Hip Hop | hip hop, neo soul, jazz & r&b

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Acoustic Escape | indie, acoustic, folk & folktronica

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Dance Vibes | nu disco, electro, funky house, indie dance, french house

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Ambient Space | downtempo, chillstep & trip hop beats

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Bass Waves | future beats, future bass, electronic dance and trap

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Lush Vibes | r&b, soul & future beats

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

After reading the recent ArsTechnica review of the latest Godzilla movie, I realized that I haven't really dived into the Kaiju genre and it might make for a fun weekend to watch a few of what you all consider fun and good. I know I have seen Kaiju movies in the past but this was when I was younger so any memory is long and forgotten. I am also not averse to non-english language movies as long as the subtitling is good!

Any you recommend and why you would recommend them?

I, personally, have a lot of music I listen to, but I can't just throw anything on when I want to jam. I have certain bands and certain genres whenever I'm feeling strongly one way or the other. Sad usually gets (to name a few) The Smiths, Blue October, or Motion City Soundtrack. Angry gets Periphery, some early Coheed and Cambria, or some early Incubus. Happy might get Weezer, Fleetwood Mac, or Polyphia. To name a few examples.

Or sometimes, I'm just feeling a certain band/sound and nothing else for days at a time. At the moment, it's been Thank You Scientist. If you can't put bands to emotions, what have you stuck on repeat lately?

Hello all, hope you're doing well. It's the weekend again, and that means that a lot of us have some free time on our hands. And some of my favorite things to do with my ever-shrinking free time is dive into a large game world and just explore. With that in mind, I thought we could start a little conversation about free-roaming video games, and open-world games in general.

Some thoughts to ponder:

• What are some of your favorite free-roaming titles?

• What keeps a free-roaming or open-world title from getting boring?

• What are some of the more unique ways to populate a large game world?

• *Is Just Cause 2 the best free-roaming game ever? The answer may surprise you!

What are for you the best modern whodunnit/criminal investigation books? I'm interested in books like Sherlock Holmes where there are clever deductions but also books where everybody knows who the criminal is but they need to find evidence and the bad guy seems to always be two steps ahead (kind of like Daredevil season 3 with Wilson Fisk).

hey all! just wanted to share a really interesting response to the title question i came across today.

this discussion spawned on the /r/justfuckmyshitup subreddit, a page dedicated to those with bad haircuts, and was based around rising (you guessed it) emo rapper, bexey.

as with many others in the genre, most of bexey's following is still very underground even though popular tracks like 'cutthroat smile' and 'stay alive' have reached 2.9 million and 7 million hits, respectively, on youtube.

while a bit of controversy surrounds bexter as he was once a good friend of late emo rap frontrunner
lil peep
(linked: 'your favorite dress') though has been rumored to have stolen several of peeper's clothes after his death, the musical point of discussion quickly turned to the question in the title:

when did rap turn into this? we need to start over.

not shortly after, user /u/GNAR-gemniii responds.

This is natural progression in genres of music.
Hip hop starts somewhere, has it's defining characteristics established, then people start pushing the genre in different directions because the same old same old has been done before.
We're in a weird sort of teenage state with hip hop right now, where people are taking the genre and mixing in characteristic of other genres - some good, some bad. This, combined with the 'viral' nature of social media means we get people who do crazy things to stand out like the above, as part of pushing the genre in all these weird directions. This guy specifically is a blend of modern trap production with goth and emo influences (if you couldn't tell).
as always, there are gonna be people who do it better than others, and people who rely on gimmicks for attention. This guy is a solid 6/10 talent wise, but has an image that appeals to a younger generation. This pattern is as old as music and culture, and people said the same things about every genre when we start getting some really wacky stuff that doesn't really fit within the confines that we would normally associate with the genre.
Nu-metal is a great example of this. traditional rock and metal music had been done to death, so we had this infusion of hip hop characteristics in to metal. In its infancy, a lot of it is really bad as people figure out what works, then as the subgenres become more popular you have people who hit a nice groove that combines the best characteristics of both genres into something that actually appeals to people who might like one or the other, and can now appreciate the other part of the blooming subgenre. something like Limp Bizkit or Kid Rock vs. Linkin Park or Korn. They're very similar genre wise but you can see maturation of the style and the progression of people doing it well.
We've already had some really nice subgenres blooming out of hip hop. Cloud rap is one that I think blends very well, and has been around long enough for people who were inspired by the artists at the forefront to come out and do it themselves, sometimes pushing it even further. Recently Lil Peep was an artist that many felt blended nicely the attitude of punk rock / emo / grunge with the banging beats that dominate modern hip hop currently. In the past couple years NY has had a surge of artists who grew up listening to the boom bap greats that paved the way for hip hop and are now blending that into the modern trap beats. The Underachievers are a personal favorite who demonstrate their understanding and respect for the origins of hip hop by showing master of both old and new styles (infused with the ideals of hippy counter culture) on their album Evermore: The Art of Duality. Seriously it's great, give it a listen. If you like old hip hop you will definitely like some of the songs at least, and it could open your eyes a bit and see how they translate traditional skills on top of more modern production.
As the genre continues to dominate main stream music we're going to have people inspired by artists in these weird hip hop subgenres come out and do it better than their idols, giving us a further refined and more tasteful progression of the subgenres that are currently in their infancy.
As time goes on, we forget the gimmicky trash that tends to flare out quickly and tend to remember the ones that did it well. Within the next 10 years i feel we're going to see some of the subgenres really shine and define themselves separately from the genres they have their roots in.
I just love the culture so on some level I can enjoy some objectively not that great music because I appreciate the art and what these artists are trying to do.
e. Don't even get me started on how metal has stagnated and it's energy has evolved into modern dubstep.

I always love asking this question because the answers are always so unique to each person.

I love a lot of music, but a lot of my favorite albums or songs often have a few recurring themes or are in a certain genre, and I personally like analyzing my taste and asking myself stuff like "why do I like this so much?" As I've done this, I've noted that my favorites often fall into one or more of these:

Shoegaze and/or Dream Pop
I like warmth in music, and a lot of shoegaze is very good at having a warm atmosphere like in Citrus. Other times I a noisy assault on my ears with an emphasis on wall of sound, and stuff like Grandeur of Hair is perfect for that need. I love the feeling of a wall of sound washing over me and just enveloping me, and sometimes a dream pop edge is also a great addition.

Space
This is mainly space rock, but I love a lot of space-y feeling things and I always have. I have a really big attraction to it, and I can't really explain why, but the idea of a cold vacuum of space just gets to me and makes me go "Wow, this sounds so cool and expansive and distant and I want to be there." Whether it's something sappy like Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, something a little more depressing and slow like Stratosphere, or something infectiously repetitive like Orion Awakes, it never fails to make me happy.

Southern and/or soulful hip-hop
I like vocal harmonies, soulful sounding stuff, and the accent is very familiar to me so it makes some of the rhymes feel a bit closer or special or familiar? Something like that. Anyway, things like Rodeo, Soul Food, and ATLiens fit into this and make me smile with the southern rhymes or the souls-y love.

Plunderphonics/Sound Collage
I LOVE plunderphonics to death. I love the idea of taking little things out of pieces of other stuff and molding it into a totally new project with a new feel and theme and sound. Some of my favorites are Since I Left You (full album wasn't on Youtube) and Wildflower (also not on Youtube), Pharma, and Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999.

You don't have to type out some big thing like I did, just tell me some of your favorite things in music!