Armadylan's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Armadylan Link ParentI've played Dave the Diver. I don't remember it being particularly grindy, but there were a lot of mechanics I didn't engage with. Without spoiling, I thought a lot of the game's systems felt...I've played Dave the Diver. I don't remember it being particularly grindy, but there were a lot of mechanics I didn't engage with. Without spoiling, I thought a lot of the game's systems felt unnecessary to the goal of completing the story & otherwise progressing through the game. And so I ignored them and focused on the part I thought was the most fun: sea exploration. But I can imagine other players finding the side mechanics inherently fun and trying to max out that aspect. Which is probably where the grind comes in.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Armadylan LinkPaper Mario, The Thousand Year Door, of course! I'm so happy. While I still have very little hope for the Paper Mario franchise as a whole, it's nice that Nintendo at least cared enough to remake...Paper Mario, The Thousand Year Door, of course!
I'm so happy. While I still have very little hope for the Paper Mario franchise as a whole, it's nice that Nintendo at least cared enough to remake TTYD for us. All that bitching and whining amounted to something! For about a decade I've wondered, having not played it since its original 2004 release, if it was actually as good as I remembered or if it was just classic nostalgia blindness. Based on the remake I am pleased to report it is definitely as good as I remember! The music, the visuals, everything is--oh it's so good.
And because of that, I'm just more depressed about the state of the series. I thought Origami King was pretty good overall, but replaying TTYD has reminded me just how far the series has fallen. The characters have names! They actually have names again! I forgot what it was like to have characters with names, and lore! The world feels real for once, not a toy. Plus, combat is fun again and there's actually a reason to engage in the mechanics.
I don't know what Nintendo has been thinking for the past 20 years. I dare not hope, but I'm still really hoping that the recent influx of Mario RPGs is attempting to 'soften us up' for some major Mario RPG release on the next console. Sure, surely that must be the case. It must be...
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
Armadylan Link ParentIt usually starts with a published system, but I find myself 'homebrewing' more mechanics on top of it (within reason) if I'm getting invested. D&D & Pathfinder have worked well as mechanics, but...It usually starts with a published system, but I find myself 'homebrewing' more mechanics on top of it (within reason) if I'm getting invested. D&D & Pathfinder have worked well as mechanics, but my go-to is Fate for its flexibility. The usual recommendation is Ironsworn, but I actually haven't run it yet so I can't comment on how it is. All of those you can access the rules online for free if you're interested. Sometimes I do build a system totally from scratch, but more often than not it doesn't click and I drop it within an hour or two.
It's good to have some solid basis that you can't stray too far from. Otherwise you can just give your character the +infinity Sword of Awesome and it gets boring real quick. This is the point of the written narrative too. It sets in stone some of the plot elements, characterization, etc rather than it just being some nebulous ideas in your head.
The hardest part is to self-police since no one is really holding you back. Since you control both the monsters/enemies and the player character(s), there needs to be some sort of logic or rules to how the monsters behave. I've found "trying to win from both sides" is too easy to tip the scales. What is more fun is to give the monsters some logical objective or give them an instinct. Like, "the wolves will attack who looks weakest." Then that takes the decision-making out of my hands and it's more like solving a puzzle. I've set the rules of the encounter, but how do I use them to my advantage?
Whether solo RPGs or writing in general, I try to keep this Vonnegut quote in mind: "Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of."
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
Armadylan Link ParentThis is a really cool use I haven't heard before now. Do you think it would help even more if it was actually verbal instead of through the text interface? I've found it really enticing to try to...This is a really cool use I haven't heard before now. Do you think it would help even more if it was actually verbal instead of through the text interface? I've found it really enticing to try to hook up chatGPT to a speech-to-text and then text-to-speech to have a verbal assistant / companion with me while working on whatever.
I've also wondered how much value could be gotten out of LLMs that talk at you unprompted. Like, for body doubling or any sort of assistant, they would sometimes initiate the conversation too, right? Or give encouragement unsolicited. I'd actually love it if I told ChatGPT I was doing something, and then an hour later it asked "so how is that project going?"
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
Armadylan LinkI've been using NovelAI for solo RPGs; basically as an activity to do for fun. Before NovelAI I used to just write out the narrative myself. Sometimes that worked really well, but sometimes it...I've been using NovelAI for solo RPGs; basically as an activity to do for fun. Before NovelAI I used to just write out the narrative myself. Sometimes that worked really well, but sometimes it didn't. The main problem I encountered was that I would get too engrossed in the mechanics or the combat of the system (playing out a D&D encounter, for instance). Then I would glance over to the Google doc I wrote the narrative in and just sigh. I didn't want to write that. I just played out the combat in my head! Now I have to write it down? Imagine after every segment of a Halo mission you tabbed out of the game and then wrote a diary entry about what happened.
It's not that I don't enjoy writing. But it was an abrupt shift in activities and my brain couldn't really do that over and over again. NovelAI's really smoothed the transition though, where I'll be editing a spreadsheet representing inn management, for instance, and then I'll tab over to novelAI on my second monitor and give it a quick prompt. "Red decided to buy wine from a new supplier, and..." and I'll see what it spits out. Smack the generate button a few dozen times until it writes out a scene. Sometimes it does something I think is interesting or adds a twist I'll rebound off of. Sometimes it just reaffirms something that I was imagining in my head.
And sometimes it does something completely cursed. I was introducing a giant, once, and NovelAI helpfully described it thusly: "Its feet were massive, with 25-30 toes in each foot, and a new foot was revealed as they got closer and closer." Yeah, not what I was going for. You do gotta baby it sometimes. Someone helpfully said that you have to stop that sort of thing as soon as it happens because otherwise it just doubles down on what you (apparently) wanted. This advice has worked really well for me.
I'm curious if anyone else has any other use-cases for NovelAI. I've personally not actually found it helpful for, er, writing novels. It turns the novel-writing activity into a novel-editing activity. I love writing. I hate editing. To me it feels like NovelAI takes the creative part out of writing a novel and leaves in the tedious part. Which isn't why I write at all.
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Comment on What is your experience with foldable phones? in ~tech
Armadylan LinkI've had a ZFlip 4 for about 6 months now. It's really nice, but I'm comparing it to a phone I had since 2015 so anything was going to feel nice. Originally I wasn't going to get a foldable phone,...I've had a ZFlip 4 for about 6 months now. It's really nice, but I'm comparing it to a phone I had since 2015 so anything was going to feel nice.
Originally I wasn't going to get a foldable phone, but all the Samsung phones were so large that 90% of the decision was just to have something that comfortably fits in my pocket. And while it does comfortably fit, it's actually quite heavy. Heavier than I expected. (Though some of that might be the protection case. I don't know.)
The protection case is nice, though I had some issue with it not staying on while folding aggressively. So I have to fold the phone carefully or it might slip off. It's stickied on with these sticky strips since I guess conventional cases can't exactly deal with the folding aspect. I don't mind the lack of screen protector though. It's nice to feel like the screen is "protected" when I fold it, and I can toss it into my bag without worrying about the screen getting scratched by my keys or anything.
I don't know if the crease gets worse with time, but when I'm using my phone properly I don't notice it at all. Even with youtube videos horizontally or reading text or anything. It's only when I'm specifically looking for the crease that I actually see it. Or if the light hits it just right.
I'm happy with the purchase but it's without many points of comparison. I'll probably go with a foldable phone again in the future if this one can last me until 2030. We'll see how it holds up long term.
Definitely. Especially if you're looking for more Mario RPGs. There's some differences between Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, but overall I think they target the same audience. PM has a lot of story and worldbuilding, and because of that it might feel slower-paced compared to SMRPG. I also really like the battle mechanics. There's a lot of decision-making that goes into each turn. Like, "you can only hit enemy X and Y with your hammer, but you can jump on Y and Z for less damage. Do you put your partner in front or in back to tank the next hit? But if you put them in front they have to attack first, and they can't hit the guy in back." A lot of stuff like that. Plus a lot of decision-making outside of combat, with figuring out what badges you want to equip to give you a wider range of combat options.
That being said, if you have NSO+Expansion Pack, you may as well play the original first (especially if you're paying for it anyways!) while keeping in mind the TTYD remake improves on all of it. If not, then I think TTYD is a great stand-alone game to play and you don't have to worry about any other Paper Mario games that exist.