As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Hello all, are there any other rockhounders/collectors, whatever you want to call yourselves, out there?
I'm looking to hear about others' experiences, specifically in mining or surveying(not sure if that wording is correct), but really, generally, hearing of diverse experiences. Some of the coolest places you've been, where you want to go, favorite finds, rocks you lust after, equipment, etc.
Hounding on the East Coast of the USA is also totally different, and I'm an amateur there. I'd say the advice to look for recent rock slides is pretty good, but requires right time/right place kind of planning.
I'm wondering for those who hound in areas that require "tools", so to speak, what it's like? As a gear-head type person, I always want a pick-axe but have no need for one.
Also debating if I need waders or not? I have yet to go deep into water to hound, so any experience or advice there is much appreciated.
Also, my current rock of obsession is Ehtiopian Opal, but I can't pull the trigger on it because I don't know if I can take care of it, or if it's worth the financial hit.
Looking forward to others' responses!
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Hey all - after a couple threads discussing randomizers and Archipelago, we should try to get a multiworld game going here! I'm thinking this would start the night of May 8th depending on availability and interest. If you are interested, just shoot a reply in here and let us know your planned game! I'll tag a post about a week out asking for YAML files, and I'll likely make a Discord server for the event itself so we can stream and share info.
Per Archipelago.gg: This is a cross-game modification system which randomizes different games, then uses the result to build a single unified multi-player game. Items from one game may be present in another, and you will need your fellow players to find items you need in their games to help you complete your own.
Essentially, you choose a game and then load into it with few or no items. When you would normally obtain an item, it will either give you a random item from your game or send a random item to another player. Everyone must work together to finish their game!
It is, sometimes! But it's easier than you'd expect. Thankfully there are a couple things to get people moving:
Even though the items will be out of order, the default logic will scatter the items such that every game is possible to beat as intended.
Archipelago is asynchronous. There isn't a time limit, so everyone can take their game at their own pace.
The settings are fairly flexible and let you set your own difficulty if you want to make things a little easier or harder. Don't want to deal with trainer battles in Pokémon? Turn 'em off! Want to start without a sword in Zelda and get creative? Ditch it! Want the duck dragon in Adventure to be four times as fast? Something is wrong with you!
Almost every game has a tracker that actively tells you which checks would trigger an item in your particular game, where they are, and whether you are able to reach them with your current loadout. They'll help you figure out how the game logic works very quickly.
Should you get stuck behind an important check - eg Link's bow, or Samus's morph ball - you can earn points and buy hints. These will tell you which specific check in which game unlocks that particular item.
The list at Archipelago.gg should have you covered.
(...Almost! For anyone a little more savvy, there's also an extended list over here. Anything "In Review" or higher should be safe to run, if a little harder to set up.)
Don't feel like everyone needs to play something different! You can have as many instances of a game as desired within a particular multiworld setup.
Whatever will keep you most interested is best! I've personally had fun with Sonic Adventure 2, Pokémon Red/Blue and Emerald, and Super Metroid. My friends really enjoy LttP, OoT, Kingdom Hearts / 2, Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, and plenty of others.
I think the only game I've seen people have a bad time with is OSRS due to the absurd amount of effort required.
First go to Archipelago.gg, find a game you'd like to play, and follow the setup guide. You'll generate a YAML file off of the game's settings page, which will dictate the settings for your run. Then you can send that to me before we start - I will throw it into the generator and get the game started. You will also want to download the Archipelago client, which handles the connection between your game and the Archipelago server.
Once we start, games running from an executable will run a mod, patch, or side program which handles the connection to the Archipelago server. They're fairly easy to install as long as you follow the guide to a T.
For games using an emulator, you'll need a clean ROM of the game (can't help you there!) and a version of the emulator BizHawk specified by the guide. The client will come with an installer which handles patching the game for you.Typically you flip a couple settings in BizHawk and restart the program. Then when you run the patched game, you will also run a provided Lua script which reads the game to communicate to the client and everything magically works. It's pretty cool!
First-time setup is probably the most difficult part of the whole thing, so I'm happy of help anyone running into issues.
This tends to be a game-specific question. The first time you play a game can be a little weird as you figure out how the settings play - too easy and it's like blowing through on cheat codes; too hard and it can be frustrating. The Archipelago discord can probably give some good first-time suggestions, and I'm happy to ask around for anyone who needs help.
Generally would I suggest for anyone doing RPGs to take advantage of EXP multipliers or other shortcuts that don't have to do with actual objectives, as it will save a ton of time on grinding. It's definitely a good idea to triple or quadruple EXP in something like Pokémon to keep the game moving - there are other options available like level caps if you'd like to introduce difficulty back in a more dynamic way than gating time. Think about things that annoyed you in the vanilla game and turn those off!
Keep Death Link off for the first time. I'd also suggest using Remote Items if it's available as an option. (If you obtain items in your own game, it may not be tracked by Archipelago because it's unnecessary to use the server to track. However if your save file corrupts or your game freezes/crashes, you would need to collect them again because the server doesn't handle them. Remote Items makes it so, in the case you lose progress, the server will track them and give them back to you as you load if they're missing for any reason.)
Pokemon Emerald: Set EXP to at least 3x and catch rate to minimum 30 (Snorlax's catch rate) if not higher or instant catch. Enable remote items. Add hidden items if you want more exploration checks and lean on the tracker plus a map. For shits and giggles: Randomize all parties and wild encounters, randomize abilities but blacklist Arena Trap / Shadow Tag, add all the extra roadblocks, add extra fly location, Turbo A (just be aware it's FAST). ALWAYS randomize music and fanfares. For some more difficulty based on progression add level cap plus bonus levels. You should blacklist Wonder Guard, but where's the fun in that?
Pokemon Red/Blue: Similar stuff to the above.
Hollow Knight: Randomize Dreamers, Skills, Charms, Keys, Mask Shards, Vessel Fragments, Charm Notches, Pale Ore, Geo Chests, Relics, Maps, Boss Geo. Set Egg Shop to 0.
Mario 64: Get the thing to work first, then randomize everything but 1-up Blocks. Disable 100 coins stars if that's a boring thing.
Ocarina of Time: Make sure it's not keysanity and shops are cheap. Everything is open. Lower big poe count to 1 and have all timesavers on.
Super Metroid: Make sure that Layout Patches, Varia Tweaks, Elevators Speed, Doors Speed, Spin Jump Restart and Infinite Space Jump are enabled. Refill Before Save can also help if you struggle with health and ammo
StarCraft 2: Grid for mission order and maybe turn off challenge/mastery locations.
Sonic Adventure 2: Randomizing chao keys and gold beetles is very reasonable for extra challenge. Do not randomize item boxes. For extras Whistlesanity should be pipes only, Omosanity is mostly fine but might get grating. Highly recommend disabling missions 2 and 4 for all characters (100 rings is particularly repetitive, time limits aren't typically that difficult but make getting extra checks annoying); kart levels are however many you wish to do. Recommend setting level gate density to early so you have more levels to work with before getting stuck.
Mystic Quest: Don't shuffle dungeons, keep Enemizer Attacks normal and Regions Strict for Progressive Formations.
Secret of Evermore: Shorter boss rush is probably nice, put Exp modifier at least 300.
That's OK! It's daunting, but the experience tends to be a little easier than expected. Don't throw really spicy limits at yourself in your settings and you should be OK. I never actually beat Ocarina of Time the first time I played it in Archipelago, but I still made it! (Hell, I still haven't played any of Ganon's Tower. I learned a skip instead off the entrance torches!) Having the tracker available helps a ton to point you in the right direction. There are also plenty of people on the Archipelago discord happy to give you suggestions if you feel stuck, as I'm sure we will be ready to help too.
Individual Archipelago worlds tend to play a little faster than playing the vanilla game, as the Archipelago versions of the game usually skip cutscenes, dialogue, etc. Occasionally you'll hit some gordian knot of backwards item progression which halts your progress; occasionally you'll get an overpowered item early and you can blow through half the game in a short bit. The progression balancing in every settings page can help you adjust if you'd like the earlygame to open up a little quicker, which will make the game go by a bit faster.
Multiworlds between my friends tend to take about a week to complete around 15 games.
Have I got the deal for you! Technically, if you'd like, you can play more than one game. Just generate two YAML files, set both games up, and switch between them at your leisure!
I promise there's no pressure if you need to take your time! But if you would like to jump ship, you have two options. One is that you can give someone your file and let them complete your save via your username. Otherwise, there is a !release option that will end your game and send out all checks hidden within your game.
This is a bit far into the future and I wanted to make sure the date would work for people interested, so no need to send YAMLs or anything yet. But do let me know if you'd like to join - no matter your skill level, we'd be happy to have you!
(edit: hid that bigass faq thingy)
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction or poetry, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk about it a bit.
This is a monthly thread for those who need it. Vent, share your experiences, ask for advice, talk about how you are doing. Let's make this a compassionate space for all who may need one.
I've set up a very small soapbox here. It's cute.
You can step up on it to rant, but it only supports small rants. Tiny ones. Cute ones. Rants about low-stakes, inconsequential stuff.
It can hold up the weight of approximately one oxford comma, so please don't get too heavy and crush it.
Anyone want to step on it and give us your 0.02 cents?
Today is the final day to file taxes in the US, and once again I find myself needing to finish up submitting everything instead of having this submitted early (next year will be different!).
I've also been needing to register my youngest son for his US citizenship, as he is born abroad. They recently released a secure way to e-file this, which means my previous "reasons" for putting it off are not relevant (they wanted me to email sensitive information to them, or deliver it in person/via courier)
It made me wonder if there is anything big or small that people wanted to share that they've been putting off? Hopefully talking about it helps you take some action on getting that thing done!
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets. Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
Recently, my COVID-era friend circle has drifted apart. It was a lot of little things that changed our priorities. We had / lost partners, went sober, got in-person jobs, got stressful jobs, made more / less money, etc. It was also the continual theme of realizing that after 3+ years, we hadn't necessarily broken the surface on our friendships with everyone in the groups.
I tend to feel relationships are generally a little ephemeral, especially in our age group (late 20s / 30s -- which is to say, anything can happen). You drift apart, and sometimes back again, and sometimes apart again, and it's just life. I feel pretty okay about it, although it's a bit sad. Given that we're at the five year mark, I thought it might be an interesting prompt.
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)
Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.
You can make a chart if you use last.fm:
http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/
Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.
I've been on a really big Geese kick lately and the video for Cowboy Nudes made me chuckle. It made me want to watch some of my old favorites, but there is still plenty of itch left to scratch. So what are your favorite music videos, and why do you like them so much?
If anyone is curious, my two favorites are:
Typical by Mutemath. They learned how to play the song backwards, which seems impressive and is very Ok Go-esque.
Sleep Now in the Fire by Rage Against the Machine. The Who Wants to be a Millionaire spoof featuring not fun facts that have become less fun over time is good. The directing/editing is great. The bass player jamming out while the cops push him back is amazing. I'd like to say I'd never charge the NYSE floor for a music video, but I can't guarantee what I might do while under the influence of a sweet Tom Morello riff.
What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)
Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.
You can make a chart if you use last.fm:
http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/
Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.
Not firsthand heartbreak that happened to you directly, but secondhand heartbreak: it happened to someone else, but the impact hit your heart too.
Could be their break-up, rejection, missed opportunity, loss, layoff, etc.
What happened to them?
And why did your heart break for them?
I guess I'll start because I don't have much, but I cherish them:
I'm proud I got out of poverty "alone". I used to never get anything as a child as my family was very poor. I only had thrift store clothes until I was maybe 12 or 13. I left my father's home at 17 and today, I have a good career, a car (!), stable finances, and I can buy anything I want and save money! I did all that with pretty much zero support, nor help from my parents or friends (no money, no gifts, no car, no services...).
I'm proud of achieving top 100 NA in WoW PvE multiple times, top 200 world on some bosses, as a guild. With my class as a DPS, I got multiple top 10 parses world on multiple bosses. I rode the high of seeing an orange parse on WoL many times.
I'm proud to have "beaten" depression and to have a positive outlook in life. Everyone says I'm always happy and the truth is...I am, because I don't care about so many things you're not supposed to care about.
I'm proud to have a healthy group of friends on my thirties. I still talk with many people and I always have people I can see or talk to. They do the same with me!
Hi everyone, I just came back from a trip - here are some interesting takeways I thought would be useful to share. Happy to hear from anyone about any other interesting ways to make your life better on the road.
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets. Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)
Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.
You can make a chart if you use last.fm:
http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/
Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction or poetry, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk about it a bit.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
Something that got away from you. What was it? Why did you miss it? How do you feel about it now?
What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)
Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.
You can make a chart if you use last.fm:
http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/
Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)
Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.
You can make a chart if you use last.fm:
http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/
Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.
Rather temped to buy a used item from the site, and wondering if fellow members have used it before. Instead of search a random referral invite code, anyone want to share theirs? thanks :)
I've been a fan of the farming/life sim/role playing/cozy games or however you want to label these games since I was a kid and my older brother brought home a new game for the Nintendo 64: Harvest Moon 64. Over the years, I played several titles in the series through the Wii/NDS era, before my tastes changed, and I found myself playing more online games with my friends and just less gaming overall.
Stardew Valley releasing was a huge event for the genre and I do greatly enjoy the game (even though I've yet to finish a play through as I keep restarting after taking a break from playing) as it captured the feeling of the early Harvest Moon games really well. It also got me to start the habit of having an N64 emulator and a copy of Harvest Moon 64 on practically every device I own.
There have been some recent remakes of older games, specifically Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful life, but I didn't enjoy the art style and some of the changes made to the games, which ended up with me not picking them up.
I was curious if anyone else was a fan of the series (or one particular game in the series), or if there are any recent games that you felt are great in this genre.
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets. Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
You do it, and it's against the grain -- outside the norm.
But you like it, or think it's worthwhile.
In fact, you'd recommend that more people do it, so that it can shift the grain or become the norm.
What is it, and why do you recommend it?
I was reading the recent post about strategy games, and I'm still astonished to see for how many hours (at least hundreds, often 1000+) people are playing these. I'm guessing that in these cases, all your gaming time is exclusively taken by that single game.
So, do you have (or did you have) games, or series, like that? Do you play solo or multi? What compels you to spend so much time on a single game? How do you feel about it?
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
