Welcome back, Heroes of Wind! (For the sake of full disclosure I myself am not yet a Hero of Wind, but should be within an hour or so...)

Hopefully everyone enjoyed their second consecutive month on the high seas as much as I did - I'd say at this point, we can basically consider ourselves a pirate club!

I had initially planned to actually plan something to write about in this post, but due to taking on way too many things this month I unfortunately haven't really had a chance to do any research beyond my own (almost) completion of the game. Hopefully any Wind Waker veterans in here will be able to help us out with any important insight that I am certainly overlooking!

For me, the most notable thing about The Wind Waker is how strongly it influenced the most recent two Zelda games. I'd say it seems to be the game that contributed the most to the modern Zelda formula. The freedom it offers you in being able to simply choose a direction and start exploring is a feature that is more or less missing from most 3D Zelda games. Also, the sheer scale of the world is really only comparable to BOTW and Tears. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Koroks - I had no idea that was a Wind Waker thing!

While I had heard about it in passing, actually seeing the underwater kingdom in this game was a strangely nostalgic experience. The way they tied in the old angular Link statue was very cool; I imagine it is safe to assume that an extremely long time passed between Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker to allow for such evolutionary toon-ification.

I wish I had had more time to finish exploring more thoroughly and compile a list of secrets. I just finished exploring the map today, and know there are still plenty of things that I have yet to see. So instead of rushing through the last dungeon, I decided to post this for now, then come back to share more thoughts in the comments later.

Next month, join us as u/Kawa guides us on a trip to the lagoon... the Racing Lagoon!

Until next time, you filthy bilge rats!

I always loved magazines. Like, real paper magazines. Lately I realized that I can find digital versions or scans somewhat easily and it sparked a new obsession. I'm weird, I know. But there are so many beautifully designed magazines, such as the Japanese travel-related Transit or the men's lifestyle Brutus. Even their websites are beautiful and worth visiting. There's also this independent Brazilian retro gaming magazine called Jogo Véio that is almost like a love letter to the classic video game magazines.

I think I've been craving creativity lately, in a World of AI slop and "content" creators. So any magazines you like? What do you like about them?

In this edition of the Good News thread, I'd love it if folks shared not just a positive news story, but perhaps a video, article, story, something that can function as a happy moment, a chill vibe, a memory that makes you smile. We're all just trying to deal with the world, so if you cannot find joy in current events, consider sharing something else joyful.

For this thread, even if something happy also reveals the sadness at the heart of the world, we're going to focus on the joy here. (Posting in misc due to the extended ask this time)

Short in question

This short popped up in my recommended. It's clearly AI (tinny voice, random jump in scenes in the middle of one of her sentence, very awkward "oh yeah, stop me"), but, unlike older AI videos, virtually nobody in the comments realizes. With how good AI is getting, we'll very probably have actual riots and political conflict breaking out over AI hoaxes and AI-fueled sentiment campaigns (if the WhatsApp lynchings in 2017-2018 are any measure of how bad social media hoaxes can get). On the other side, citizen journalism of atrocities may come to be worthless and easily dismissed as AI. Humanity is cooked, as the kids say.

(Reposted as a text post and with a better title. Previous comments can be viewed here)

Do you ever get that FOMO feeling that all your friends and family use insert-social-media-app name? That you are the outcast fighting the uphill battle of avoiding those horrible apps and the forced advertising they shove into your eyeballs every minute? Well, I did, and decided to give Instagram a shot to see how things are.

Well, you will not be surprised to hear that it is as awful as you probably imagine. It did not get better since I left maybe 5 years ago. It got worse. The only way it's better is, funny enough, the technical creative element. You can do a lot more. The video editor for the reels is surprisingly good and easy to use. Far better than iMovie (on iOS). Aaaand that's about it! Everything else is worse. More ads, more content that I just don't care about, etc.

An important realization about the content itself, reels and stories. We all know it's one-sided, that you often see only one side of a person. That's not new. What I did feel this time around is that, coming from zero FB/Insta/X/TikTok for over 5 years, being exposed to this kind of content suddenly starts inserting a vast amount of self-doubt in one's daily life. I'll use a mild example: fitness! I am an active person, I exercise more or less regularly, I walk my dogs, I do some outdoor activities, light sports, etc. Well, I start seeing content on this topic, and initially think "Oh, this guy has some good tips!" But then I see 10 other content creators with 10 different ideas of what is "right" and I end up so confused, doubting whether I am doing things right. Now take this example and think about other topics: mental health is a big one! All of a sudden I see these ads and accounts targeting me and making me feel like I'm not happy enough, or not investing enough time in whatever thing they are selling. I have a pretty strong radar for this stuff, I am conscious of how this works and on alert. It didn't get to me because I spotted the trend early. But I am wondering how many people are aware of this? Here on Tildes, probably most. Outside, in the wild? People glued to FB/Insta/X all the time? Probably very few.

A family member is constantly on Instagram, consuming this "mental health" content. When you get 10 different types of advice, how are you to know what to prioritize, what actually works. I think it does more harm than good. Zero advice may be preferable, in a way that lets your own psyche figure it out versus being bombarded by these "helpful" content creators.

I did go back to Instagram primarily to get back in touch with friends and family who I lost track of, or who use Instagram as a way of creative expression. Sadly, I realized few people actually do that, and most are just lurking, or watching reels and sharing reels. This gets old fast. Yes, some reels are funny and it's fun to laugh with the person next to you. But they are also addictive and I found myself defaulting to scrolling over other activities that are far healthier for the brain and for the heart.

What do you think? Am I way off the mark here? Did you have a similar experience with these platforms?

Some background here - I have a niche YouTube channel, mostly doing longform (often 3+ hour) commentaries on a board game with a friend. We're both very skilled at the game and are apparently entertaining to listen to, but it's all very amateur - I don't really know anything about videomaking except what I've picked up as I go.

That had never really been an issue, because the topic is so niche that only people really interested in the game watch, and they didn't really mind. But last year we got a shout-out from a big YouTuber and the subscriber count has gone up a lot since, to the point where it feels like I really should figure out how to make it a little less amateurish.

I want to start with audio, because that's 90% of what we do. But I don't even know where to start with it.

I got Blue Yetis for both of us a few years ago because I was vaguely aware that was a good mic, but if anything it made it slightly worse than just using headsets (quite a bit more echoey) - I don't know if that was a mistake, and if there are better mics to go for?

I'm also aware that you're supposed to have some kind of padding on the walls to stop the echoing, but that isn't really feasible for me both because I rent, and because all the rooms of the apartment I'm in are absolutely massive. I've heard that you can throw a blanket over your head, which I've tried for a short video but I absolutely couldn't handle for a three hour one. I'm lost on how to solve that too.

If anyone here knows much about it, I'd love either direct advice about it or a recommendation for how/where to learn about this stuff. It's super appreciated!