Boojum's recent activity
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 đĄī¸đĄī¸â¤ī¸đē INSERT CARTRIDGE đĸ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 đĄī¸đĄī¸â¤ī¸đē INSERT CARTRIDGE đĸ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
Boojum Link ParentThat "curious how much I can remember" thing, I find is half the fun of revisiting it every now and again! At least for me, I find that I tend to get a bit fuzzy about exactly what is where for...That "curious how much I can remember" thing, I find is half the fun of revisiting it every now and again! At least for me, I find that I tend to get a bit fuzzy about exactly what is where for the more minor hidden goodies (name heart pieces and cash), but that I get a fun jolt of recognition at the location and vaguely recall that something important is here, even if I can't quite remember what exactly. And after a few moments, it usually comes back to me what I need to do to access it.
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 đĄī¸đĄī¸â¤ī¸đē INSERT CARTRIDGE đĸ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
Boojum Link ParentOh neat! I didn't know about this! (But I suppose there's potentially a lot of cool fan-made stuff with a beloved 35 year old game that's been completely reverse engineered.) Normally I'd be up...Oh neat! I didn't know about this! (But I suppose there's potentially a lot of cool fan-made stuff with a beloved 35 year old game that's been completely reverse engineered.)
Normally I'd be up for giving it a try, but I'm traveling on vacation this month and playing just by my Steam Deck. So I'll have to give it a pass. Some other time, perhaps.
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 đĄī¸đĄī¸â¤ī¸đē INSERT CARTRIDGE đĸ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
Boojum Link ParentGood call out on the included map. It's been 35 years (wow), so somehow I'd forgotten about that bit. (Perhaps because the game itself included a nice map in-game.) I started the random seed from...Good call out on the included map. It's been 35 years (wow), so somehow I'd forgotten about that bit. (Perhaps because the game itself included a nice map in-game.)
I started the random seed from the randomizer last night and I've been having a fun time. I'm playing quite casually, and am probably somewhere between a third and a half done, given the items I've found so far. It's definitely been an odd experience with how it breaks the standard flow of the game that I'm so used to. It's odd with that "oh, I got that thing much earlier than I expected, which means over there is no accessible to me." Which is counterbalanced somewhat by the occasional "Grr...! why is it taking so long to find X so that I can go get to Y?" (Gimme my bow already!)
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 đĄī¸đĄī¸â¤ī¸đē INSERT CARTRIDGE đĸ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
Boojum Link ParentThanks for pointing the recomp options. I'd forgot about those as an option, though I'll admit I was mostly trying to focus on fully legal options, per CGA hosting guidelines. When I'm on my...Thanks for pointing the recomp options. I'd forgot about those as an option, though I'll admit I was mostly trying to focus on fully legal options, per CGA hosting guidelines.
When I'm on my desktop with a good 4k gaming monitor and a strong GPU, I swear by the crt-royale-ntsc-256px-composite shader preset in RetroArch for NES and SNES emulation. Though I'll just note that the CRT Royale documentation recommends a 4k display so that it has the resolution for the shadow mask effect. It also is surprisingly GPU heavy. I've never tried the recomp option, so I don't know if it also supports the ntsc-256px-gauss-scanline shader preset that RetroArch has, but that's the one that I use on Steam Deck on a 1080p display. It still gives most of the NTSC artifacting effects while being much lighter on the GPU and being okay on a lower res display.
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Comment on CGA-2026-07 đšī¸đĨâī¸ REMOVE CARTRIDGE âī¸ Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals in ~games
Boojum Link ParentThanks. And yes, FF VI has a special place in my heart because it was what I picked when my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas back in 1994. It made a slightly sucky Christmas break much...Thanks. And yes, FF VI has a special place in my heart because it was what I picked when my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas back in 1994. It made a slightly sucky Christmas break much better. And I'd heard that about the development to - IIRC the release was delayed but development was a bit ahead of schedule and that extra time allowed them to add the WoR. I still remember being stunned, thinking "Wait! What? The villain wins?!" when the WoB->WoR moment happens in the plot, as it was the first time I'd ever seen anything quite like that.
Regarding the Gades Blade, I think it must be a 100% drop rate. Rather than it being mentioned as loot like usual in the post-battle report, there was a scripted event where Maxim held it aloft while the item-get jingle played and it announced in a special text box that I'd got it. And yeah, I didn't use the Octo Strike IP much, but it was fun watching Guy finish off both of the dual clown bosses in a single action, smacking them for around 4 hits each at 250 hp damage per hit. (It would have worked well if it were one of those annoying bosses where you had to time things carefully to finish off all of the parts at around the same time or they'd regenerate.)
I'm going to turn my attention for now to ALttP, since I'm hosting that this month, but I'd definitely like to return to Lufia 2 later to finish the story and give the Ancient Cave a shot. (And thank you for hosting Lufia 2.)
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CGA-2026-08 đĄī¸đĄī¸â¤ī¸đē INSERT CARTRIDGE đĸ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Introduction The Legend of Zelda series celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, and A Link to the Past will have its 35th later this year. So cast your mind back and let me set the mood....
Introduction
The Legend of Zelda series celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, and A Link to the Past will have its 35th later this year.
So cast your mind back and let me set the mood. Picture this: the year is 1992 and you're a middle school kid who has saved up enough chore and birthday money to finally get your first new game for the SNES (the one you worked so many chores to save up for when your parents finally allowed you to have a console like the other kids you were so envious of.) You've beaten the Super Mario World game your SNES came with and you're definitely ready for something else.
You're sitting in the back seat of the car as your mother drives you home from the store, holding the box for A Link to the Past in your little hands. You open it up and find a cartridge (of course!). You carefully set that aside.
Next up, there's a detailed manual, because of course nearly all games back then came with some kind of little manual of some kind, or at the very least an instruction pamphlet. You read it cover to cover, because you're that kind of kid.
In the box you also find a little hint pamphlet sealed shut with a bit of adhesive. Tempting, but you want to challenge yourself to get as far as you can before peeking. (You give in a few days later.)
Finally, the ride back from the mall is done and you race downstairs to the den, pop the cartridge into the top of your SNES, and turn everything on. You're greeted with a Triforce in 3D that spins and assembles itself (3D on a console? Witchcraft!), while a short harp arpeggio plays:
Doodloodlooodloodloodloodloodloodl do do do do do Do!
Then the title screen, a sword drop, and a pictaresque castle, moat, and mountains behind them while a fanfare plays:
Bumpa deeee! duhduhdudludlut deeee! duhduhdudludlut deeee! Dee DEE DELAAAAH!!
A moment later, the intro prologue begins giving the back story as tense chords play. Then, the now-famous fairy fountain theme plays as you name your game save ("Link", of course!) and so the game begins. The mood is set as you step outside your house into a storm with a layer of splashing rain, flickering lightning (Wow! Amazing graphics!), crashing thunder and a reprise of the tense music. You binge through the first dungeon or two that day.
It's nearly summer, but school isn't done yet. So each day as soon as you get home from middle school, you can't wait to race down to the shade and the cool relief of the basement den to conquer the next dungeon, get the cool new piece of equipment and see what new areas of the game it opens. (Homework? Homework can wait!) That's the rhythm: one day, one dungeon, just an hour or two a day, until you get to the end.
That's how I first played it and why this game is so special to me. :-)
Â
For First Time Players
Don't be afraid to check the manual and hint book that I linked above. Yes, they spoil things a bit, especially the hint book. But the game shipped with them and they were part of the original experience. And if you pace yourself to one dungeon a day, you should easily get through the game by mid-month. It's not a terribly long game, all told.
Here are a few general, minimal-spoiler hints of my own...
- Throw pots at enemies whenever you can; they are way stronger than the sword early on.
- Positioning is important for sword play! The sword swings in an arc in front and to one side, and you want to try to position yourself so that the arc hits the enemy but they can't hit you easily. For fighting soldiers, consider your handedness and theirs.
- Try the magic powder on unkillable enemies.
- Try jumping into large urns where possible.
- Not all bombable walls require bombs. The ones with a complete arch-shaped crack around them can be opened without spending anything.
- Check behind waterfalls.
- Try throwing things into ponds.
- Pay close attention to discrepancies between the two main maps.
- Potions start to beat fairies in the later game, since you'll have more health than a single fairy can restore.
- The suggested dungeon order in the mid-late game is optional. You can do a few of them in arbitrary order, and this can be advantageous. (One of the hardest puzzles in the game is trivialized if you have the item from the "next" dungeon.)
I think you're in for a treat, and I look forward to hearing your experience with the game, as seen fresh through 2026 eyes.
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For Experienced Players
There's a popular randomizer for the game, complete with a Reddit community.. I've never tried it before, but as I've played the vanilla game many times, CGA seems like a fun excuse to finally try the randomizer.
I'll be using this seed if you'd like to join me on it. It uses the "Beginner" preset which seems a good place to start with the randomizer, but with the "Hints" turned on (which I understand means that the telepathic tiles in the dungeons are changed to tell you where some things are). I'm eager to see what insanity the chaos produces.
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The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Versions:
- Super NES (1991/1992): The original!
- Game Boy Advance (2002): A rerelease as part of the The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords. I've never played this version, but there's a list of differences here.
Platforms: Super NES, Game Boy Advance, Wii, Wii U, New 3DS, Switch, Super NES Classic Edition
Genre(s): Action-adventure, RPG, Puzzle
Stores: Free under the Nintendo Classics library if you have a Nintendo Switch Online or Nintendo Switch 2 Online subscription.
Game Setup
The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:
- Share which version of the game you're playing
- Share what hardware you're playing it on
- Share if there are any tools/mods that you recommend
- Share anything you think is important for people to know before they start the game
- Ask questions if you need help
Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:
- Do you have any memories or associations with this game itself?
- What about its system or era?
- What aspects of retro gaming were common at the time?
- What other games from the same time period are you familiar with?
- What are you expecting from this game in particular?
Finally, this topic is the beginning discussion for people starting to play it:
- Post updates sharing your thoughts as you play.
- Ask for help if you get stuck.
- Offer help to others.
It is recommended that you reply to your own posts if you are making consecutive updates so that they are in the same thread.
Important
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Any links to the game should be legal distributions of the game only. Please do NOT link to any unauthorized copies.
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Put any spoilers in a dropdown block. Copy/paste the block below if needed.
<details> <summary>Spoilers</summary> Spoiler text goes here. </details>
FAQ
What is CGA?
Colossal Game Adventure (CGA) is Tildes' retro video game club.
Each month we will play a different retro game/games, discuss our thoughts, and bask in the glorious digital experiences of yesteryear!
Colossal Game Adventure is a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure. It's one of the most influential games of all time, one of the first text-based interactive games, and one of the first games to be shared online.
What do we want to do with this group? Play influential games; interact with each other through text; and share the love for retro games online!
It also abbreviates to CGA (because we love chunky pixel art), and its name communicates the Colossal amount of fun and excitement that we have with retro video Games in our shared Adventure of playing them together.
Do I have to sign up?
No. Participation is open to all.
There is a Notification List that will get pinged each time a new topic goes up. If you would like to join that list, please PM u/kfwyre.
Are there restrictions on what/how to play?
Each month will have a focus game or games that will guide our discussions. Beyond that, there are no restrictions. The philosophy of CGA is to play in a way that works for you!
This means:
- Choose whichever version of the game you want.
- You can use cheats, save states, mods, etc.
- You can watch a streamer or longplay instead of playing it.
If you have already played a game and want a different experience:
- Try a randomizer or challenge run.
- Play a different version of it.
- Play a related game (sequel, spiritual successor, something inspired by it, etc.)
There is no wrong way to participate in CGA, and every different way someone participates will make for more interesting discussions.
What is the schedule?
Each month the Insert Cartidge topic will be posted on the 1st, while the Remove Cartridge topic will be posted on the 28th.
Nomination and voting topics will happen in March and September (every 6 months).
Schedules are also posted then.
All CGA topics are available using the
colossal game adventuretag.What do Insert and Remove Cartridge mean?
Inserting and removing cartridges are our retro metaphor for starting and stopping a given game or games.
The Insert Cartridge topic happens at the beginning of the month and is primarily about getting the game up and running.
The Remove Cartridge topic happens toward the end of the month and is primarily about people reflecting on the game now that they've played it.
There are no hard restrictions on what has to go in either topic, and each can be used to discuss the game, post updates, ask questions, etc.
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Comment on CGA-2026-07 đšī¸đĨâī¸ REMOVE CARTRIDGE âī¸ Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals in ~games
Boojum (edited )LinkHmm! I thought I'd be behind here, since I started a little late and then was occupied with business travel and illness. But reading through the comments, maybe I got farther than everyone but...Hmm! I thought I'd be behind here, since I started a little late and then was occupied with business travel and illness. But reading through the comments, maybe I got farther than everyone but @zod000?
Anyway, my last play session ended at the door to the Tower of Sacrifice. So I basically got far enough to see the time skip, the aftermath of that, and then get access to the Ancient Cave and finally make it to the eastern continent. My party's around level 31-33ish after just under 14 hours played. (So I didn't get to the end like I'd hoped or even surpass my original playthrough from the early 00's where I'd got up to level 50ish after 20 hours, I think. But that's okay; I can still finish on my own time at some point.)
Probably the most interesting thing of my play through was beating the first Gades fight (which you're scripted to lose) at the top of Gordovan West Tower with a level 25 max party and everyone alive at the end. Granted, it took liberal use of emulator save state scumming to allow for some precognition on where to target my healing each round. But I did it!
Some things I enjoyed, or at least thought was ahead of it's time:
- Visible enemies instead of random battles.
- I had this in my DQ 11 XS playthrough this spring, but for a 90's game, this was ahead of its time. I feel like random battles create a tension between exploration and going straight to the exit when you find a path. You can continue exploring every nook and cranny searching for loot, but it's surely going to cost party resources in MP and potions. Going forward conserves those resources, but then you miss loot and XP. Visible enemies mean that I'm not penalized for exploration. If I backtrack to see what's at the end of a path I haven't gone down yet, I can just choose to skip fights I've already done.
- Snappy battles, where each round takes just seconds.
- The D-pad menu for actions in battle is pretty cool.
- I feel like I might have seen that in some other JRPG at some point too, but I thought it was well done here. I remember pie menus were a fad back in the mid-late 90's, so I'm guessing that was some inspiration here.
- Spells can be focused or split freely.
- Even beyond just single-target vs. target all, it was nice to be to say, mark just two party members for heals.
- I can click a button on any spell, equipment, or item to get a description of it and what it does.
- Auto-equip option when purchasing equipment.
- Stats comparison to current gear when considering equipping or purchasing.
- Capsule monsters as free damage sponges and minor damage dealers or healers.
- Though I wish they had even a rudimentary AI! The actions seemed consistently random, leading to things like the cupid repeatedly wasting turns casting Restoration to dispel status effects on characters who didn't need it.
- Sinistral boss battle music!
- The puzzles in the dungeons were kind of fun. Good variety, and nice little challenges to add some spice in between the battles.
- Fast travel!
- Surprisingly decent dialogue for the required terseness
- Yeah, not perfect. But given the large font, they were fairly constrained on how many words they could fit on the screen, and I felt like it was pretty coherent, given that limitation. Part of this, though, might have been colored by playing Aria of Sorrow last month, where I felt like I was getting only have the dialogue from the translation, given the number of non-sequiturs.
- Buffs and debuffs show you the numbers for the stat changes.
Some negatives
- Repetitive plot structure!
- Go to town, get sent to tower or cave to retrieve plot coupon, defeat boss at top or bottom for said plot coupon, return to town to turn in, advance to next town. Rinse and repeat. It was starting to feel a bit like a shaggy dog story. I feel like the SNES-era Final Fantasies do better here with the variety of settings for the dungeon equivalents and the excuses for going through them. Mountain passes! Rivers! Enemy encampments! Spooky forests! Psychopomp trains (suplex, LOL)! Ghost ships! Volcanoes! Ancient temples! Etc.
- Simplistic environmental sprite work
- It wasn't bad per se; I'd call it more serviceable. But it reminded me mainly of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (1992) or maybe Final Fantasy V (1992), more so than a 1995 late SNES-era game that came after Final Fantasy VI (1994).
- Forgettable towns
- I think the combination of repetitive plot structure, similar seeming dungeons (mostly towers and caves) led to me to start forgetting which town was which. About the only one that really stood out so far was Parcelyte, because you kept returning to help them and the main character settled there with another character before the time skip. But almost none of the towns seemed particularly different in character from the others. Compare that, to say, Narshe from FF6. You think of Narshe and you remember the ice and the snow drifts, the cliffs and the mines, the wintry dark outside contrasting with the warm lights of the interiors, the ponderous music and the howling wind sound. That town had character! Then consider the moving castle town of Figaro, the super sketchy Zozo, noble castle Doma, dystopian industrialized magicpunk Vector, etc. - each with its own unique and memorable character.
- Magic feels underpowered
- I think I'm used to games where magic tends to be big and powerful, but fairly costly until late game. So it can still be worth it to have your magic users swing their staves or whatever. Here, though, it felt like magic wasn't too costly, but it was pretty underwhelming. Often when having my magic user cast their most expensive offensive spell on a boss, it still did less damage than my physical damage dealers did swinging their weapons. As often as not, that tended to mean the magic users were relegated to being heal bots during the biggest fights and it usually wasn't worth bothering with an occasional offensive spell if should be ahead on healing. And if any of the enemies had particular elemental weaknesses, I never really noticed. The elements on the spells didn't seem to make an appreciable difference. It felt like the element of the spells only made cosmetic graphical differences.
Anyway, despite my complaints, I've still enjoyed my time playing it and I'd like to beat it one day. And maybe even try the Ancient Cave.
- Visible enemies instead of random battles.
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Comment on How do you live simply/save money? What does your lifestyle look like? in ~talk
Boojum LinkProbably the most common for me is asking myself "Do I really need this now?" when considering a purchase.Probably the most common for me is asking myself "Do I really need this now?" when considering a purchase.
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Comment on Of course viewers are giving up on Netflix shows in ~tv
Boojum Link ParentFor me, it's kind of like the way 17th century natural philosophers would embed anagrams in their current papers to claim priority on new work before it was published. It's a sort of proof that...For me, it's kind of like the way 17th century natural philosophers would embed anagrams in their current papers to claim priority on new work before it was published. It's a sort of proof that the writers are thinking ahead and not just flying by the seat of their pants. (Or if they are, then at least they're really good at it!)
I think my favorite show for this is Babylon 5. It's been a while, but as a recall, there's stuff there even in Episode 1 that doesn't pay off until a few seasons later. Rewatching, knowing the answers to the little mysteries that might seem like plot holes or dropped threads on a first viewing is a lot of fun.
More recently, my family and I had some fun re-watching parts of Widow's Bay like that after the first season finale. (I'm glad that Apple, at least, is good with renewing its shows like Widow's Bay, Pluribus, and Severance.)
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Comment on Of course viewers are giving up on Netflix shows in ~tv
Boojum LinkCancellations is a big part of it. I'm still quite annoyed that they cancelled Lockwood & Co. after just the first season when it had a good viewer reception. And the book series it was based off...Cancellations is a big part of it. I'm still quite annoyed that they cancelled Lockwood & Co. after just the first season when it had a good viewer reception. And the book series it was based off (of which I am a fan) was already complete, so no chance of a Game of Thrones fiasco there! They could perhaps have gotten through the remaining books in two more seasons or so. Why should I get invested if they're going to rug pull? I'd much rather them just not have bothered.
The other thing is the idea of optimizing for "second screen viewing". This offends me deeply. Maybe I'm just older and out of touch, but if I'm going to bother to sit down to watch a show, I'm going to watch (and if someone else doesn't want to pay full attention, that's on them), and I prefer a show that's clever itself and doesn't insult my intelligence. Half the fun is paying attention to clues and guessing! (And if the show is really good, rewatching for clues in earlier episodes that are recontextualized by later episodes.)
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Comment on CGA-2026-07 đšī¸đĨâī¸ INSERT CARTRIDGE đĸ Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals in ~games
Boojum (edited )LinkI've been looking for to this. I remember playing it on emulator 20 years ago or so and getting decently far but never finishing it. (Avoiding walk-through spoilers by asking Google's LLM based on...I've been looking for to this. I remember playing it on emulator 20 years ago or so and getting decently far but never finishing it. (Avoiding walk-through spoilers by asking Google's LLM based on what I remember of how far I got, it sounds like I had made it perhaps 65% of the way through the game.)
But definitely I do remember enjoying it at the time (especially things like the music theme for the titular Sinistrals), and I've thought of revisiting it. CGA seems like a good opportunity to do so. And this time around, instead of being tied to my desk for the emulator like I was then, I've got my Steam Deck all set up for emulation, along with the dock and a wireless controller. So I can enjoy it both in portable form and from the catch. Should be fun!
Edit to add: Okay, fired it up on my Steam Deck the other night after writing the above. Looking at my old saves carried over from probably the early 00's, I'd gotten about 20ish hrs. in on that first play through attempt, with my party leveled to around 50ish. Starting with a fresh game, I made it to Jelze in one sitting. Some of this is definitely coming back to me! Especially the overworld and the battle music. I'd also forgotten how elegantly efficient the cross-shaped d-pad UI is for battles. I'm hoping I can finish the game this time.
FWIW, I'm playing using the official Steam RetroArch on a docked Steam Deck with an 8BitDo controller, using the bsnes emulation core, and the ntsc-256px-gauss-scanline shader preset. This is my go-to for SNES emulation.
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Comment on CGA-2026-06 đĻđ§ââī¸đĨ REMOVE CARTRIDGE âī¸ Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow in ~games
Boojum LinkThis was fun, and my first time playing this game, or for that matter, any of the Castlevania games that lend their name to the Castlevania half of the Metroidvania genre. (I have played and beat...This was fun, and my first time playing this game, or for that matter, any of the Castlevania games that lend their name to the Castlevania half of the Metroidvania genre. (I have played and beat the original linear Castlevania and Super Castlevania IV games, back before Metroidvanias were a thing; so this wasn't my first Castlevania title; just my first of the later era.)
Time-wise, I very much appreciated that this was a shorter game. I'd just come off of a 160 hr play through of Dragon Quest XI S, so this was a nice palette cleanser.
I just finished it last night, rushing through the last few zones to Graham, Julius, and Chaos in one setting. Oddly of the three, I found Julius the hardest. He killed me a couple of times and I had to burn a ton of potions and consumables on him; mostly because he was fast and could be hard to hit. By comparison, Chaos was super easy - there were so many little things that I could attack for hits that I was getting a constant health infusion via the Succubus soul. I think I ended with something like a 99.8% map completion; I'm not sure what I missed.
The difficulty curve was interesting. There was a fun point mid-game where I accidentally found the Claimh Solais once I'd found my way past the waterfall. (Okay, yes, I had to look up the waterfall - it was obvious that there was supposed to be a way past it, given the armor sitting there under it.) That, plus that armor made the game feel brokenly easy for a little bit midway through, until late game the enemies started to catch up again - somewhere around the Arena. And speaking of the Arena - grrr... that one long room with the conveyor belts, spikes, and medusa heads... I can honestly say that room killed me more than any of the bosses! But yeah, that sword carried through the second half of the game. (The chain sword was my main weapon through most of the first half.)
The soul switching mechanic was interesting, but got a bit tedious. I think I like games slightly better where you outright get key powerups rather than having to farm them until they randomly drop. Sure, most of the key ones are given to you outright for defeating certain bosses. But things like the Gargoyle soul sure helped when I finally got it late game and made it easier to revisit areas with medusa heads and cockatrices. I also found myself really wishing the the Skula soul was just one of those automatic permanent upgrades (like the Hippogryph soul which was pretty awesome, but came so late in the game that I didn't real have any use for it, nor did it have any puzzles built around it, which was a shame).
I loved the sprite work/animation and some of the sound design. There was something about the fluidity and style of the sprite work that made me think that I could easily have been playing an arcade game. Especially little details like when you the knock-back as you destroy a torch or sarcophagus and it falls to pieces that bounce a little, with a nice bass thump. Likewise the colors and the shadows. It seemed like it could would have been suitable as a Neo Geo game a few years earlier.
Oh! One thing I did find odd and a bit of a miss was the cut scenes and dialogues with NPCs. I'm not sure what was up with the translation, but I felt like I was getting half the story, and that garbled through a game of telephone or something. So many stilted and random disconnected-feeling sentences. Usually I love a good story-heavy game and savor the dialogue. But on this one, I just kinda started skimming through it, which I pretty much never do. Oh well. It was mostly about the action anyway.
Anyway, those were my first-time impressions.
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
Boojum Link ParentI should probably just move to that, yeah. But no, just vanilla Firefox Mobile in perma-private mode and a blank profile.I should probably just move to that, yeah. But no, just vanilla Firefox Mobile in perma-private mode and a blank profile.
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
Boojum LinkBleh. I'm a weirdo like to use private browsing on my phone for everything, just as a way to help limit my screen time and also in case I ever lose my phone. New Reddit sucks, so now I'll less...Bleh. I'm a weirdo like to use private browsing on my phone for everything, just as a way to help limit my screen time and also in case I ever lose my phone. New Reddit sucks, so now I'll less likely to visit it.
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Comment on I'm looking for an adage or "law" (like Conway's law), but for dealing with AI slop in ~tech
Boojum Link ParentHah! You've just given me a great idea for a new AI startup: a service you can hire to take the mandatory training on your behalf. Let it run your browser to read through all the boring modules...Hah! You've just given me a great idea for a new AI startup: a service you can hire to take the mandatory training on your behalf.
Let it run your browser to read through all the boring modules and transcripts, wait out the tediously slow narration (always generically about "our company"), watch all the videos, and then take the silly quizzes on your behalf while you go get some real work done. :-)
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Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2026: Hidden gems in ~games
Boojum LinkCan I plug one that's not on sale (because it's free) and has more than 1000 reviews, but still seems like it deserves to be better known? Moonring (2,062 reviews currently) This game is basically...Can I plug one that's not on sale (because it's free) and has more than 1000 reviews, but still seems like it deserves to be better known?
Moonring
(2,062 reviews currently)
This game is basically a love letter to the Ultima, Wizardry, and the various other CRPG games of the 80's. Retro-inspired sprite work with stark vivid colors on a black background and a scanline effect, and turn-based with rather little handholding (and no quest markers)! On the other hand, it still does have some modern touches like a built in automatic notes systems, a rather forgiving penalty for death, the ability to respec., and so forth. It's a labor of love by one person, the co-creator of the Fable series. He's described his goal as wanting it to feel like the CRPGs of the 80's, but how you remember them instead of how they actually were.
It definitely has one of the stranger and more unique fantasy world backstories compared to other games that I've played: "Five hundred years ago, the land of Caldera was plunged into endless darkness. Decades later, five moons rose in the sky, bringing light to the world and strange Gods with it." And without spoilers, I'll just say the whole story line flows from this.
The game play is turn-based rogue-like. The overworld has a static, hand-crafted layout with encounters occasionally spawning. The dungeons are all procedurally generated. If you die on the overworld, you just respawn at the last town you exited. And if you die in a dungeon everything resets to just as it was right before you entered it (i.e., you get your consumables back), with the dungeon being re-randomized if you should enter it again. There's no XP or leveling system. Instead, as you do tasks for the gods you gain skill points to spend on abilities. Or you find better equipment. And that's all.
I mentioned it being free. It really is free, no strings attached. The developer explained: "Life is hard, COVID sucked, everyone's poor and stressed. I don't need the $300 this would make me: I'd rather take the goodwill." He later added an optional DLC with a 100 floor mega-dungeon for $5, mostly as a sort of tip jar for those whom requested a way to pay him something for the game.
I played and beat it entirely on my Steam Deck last year, so I vouch for its compatibility there. And being turn-based makes it a pretty good pick-up-and-set-down game.
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
Boojum Link ParentSuch a quotable song! And part of the fun of being a parent is getting to use that particular line (and some of the others) on my kids. :-) Fun personal trivia: for my birthday this year, I chose...Such a quotable song! And part of the fun of being a parent is getting to use that particular line (and some of the others) on my kids. :-)
Fun personal trivia: for my birthday this year, I chose a Black Forest cake from the local bakery chain that inspired Valve. And yes, it was delicious and moist.
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
Boojum Link ParentI mentioned in my list that I have a spare one to gift on Steam, so if anyone is looking for that other copy...I mentioned in my list that I have a spare one to gift on Steam, so if anyone is looking for that other copy...
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
Boojum Link ParentGreat! You're first to ask, so you get to choose when you wish to claim it.Great! You're first to ask, so you get to choose when you wish to claim it.
Great, hope you can make the time! (And I know the feeling on having to miss many of the CGA's; I missed many of the first round of them.)
Regarding manuals, from one of the Tildes surveys a couple months back, I noticed that I was almost exactly a standard deviation older than the mean Tilderino's age. So I wanted to try to convey some of the flavor of what gaming as an 80's/90's kid was like. And the printed manuals were an important part of that, I think.
So of my all-time favorites for manuals were the old Maxis' sim games. Sim City, Sim Earth, Sim Ant... The Sim Earth and Sim Ant games were packed with a lot of background information and were surprisingly educational. The manual for the original Sid Meier's Civilization game also stands out in my mind.