Chemslayer's recent activity
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Comment on Do you prefer to 100% games, or to move on to new experiences? in ~games
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Comment on Audible mandating authors transition to new royalty system or lose payments in ~books
Chemslayer Link ParentLmao, to be fair I learned about Libro from a different Tildes post a while ago, so the propagation works. Also, I got in 2 minutes before the next guy ;P Also responding to your parent, fwiw you...Lmao, to be fair I learned about Libro from a different Tildes post a while ago, so the propagation works.
Also, I got in 2 minutes before the next guy ;P
Also responding to your parent, fwiw you can still get a refund even if you download the DRM-free file, I got a Little Women audiobook with awful sound balancing and was able to get my credit refunded still. (I did delete that backup to be honest and because again it was terrible, but they didn't ask for any proof of that or anything)
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Comment on Audible mandating authors transition to new royalty system or lose payments in ~books
Chemslayer Link ParentAs a suggestion for you and others, check out Libro.fm! Among it's many cool features (directly supporting local book stores with profit share), every audiobook has easily-accessible DRM-Free...As a suggestion for you and others, check out Libro.fm! Among it's many cool features (directly supporting local book stores with profit share), every audiobook has easily-accessible DRM-Free download options!
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Chemslayer LinkThe final volume of The Princess I Loved in My Past Life is Now a Middle-Aged Dad released yesterday, and I got and read that. It was a very short series (only 3 volumes total), but it was cute...The final volume of The Princess I Loved in My Past Life is Now a Middle-Aged Dad released yesterday, and I got and read that. It was a very short series (only 3 volumes total), but it was cute and humorous. It wasn't particularly deep or innovative, so don't go in expecting a multi-layered romance, but the art is nice, the characters are cute, and the series is short enough that the relative one-dimensionality of the characters doesn't wear thin.
As an aside, it is also how I learned that same-sex marriage is still illegal in Japan apparently, crazy.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #5: Pineapple on pizza? (Results) in ~talk
Chemslayer (edited )Link ParentOh man, here's my half-italian American hot take: American-style pizza is a massive improvement over Italian pizza, in pretty much every way. Having been to Italy plenty of times, and loving most...- Exemplary
Oh man, here's my half-italian American hot take: American-style pizza is a massive improvement over Italian pizza, in pretty much every way. Having been to Italy plenty of times, and loving most of the food there, the pizza is always a disappointment to me: little baby thin crust (but not in a crunchy delicious "thin crust" way, just a sad layer of flour), the two droplets of sauce (if that), the cheese that is inexplicably less delicious despite Italy's cheese selection being amazing, and just the overall lack of salt or sugar or anything. I'd take a Dominos pepperoni pizza over a pizza in Italy any day of the week.
Relatedly, I do think Pizza is one of the foods that is best when cheap, and trying to make it fancy or gourmet paradoxically makes it less delicious. I can't argue whether or not the traditional Italian style might be more nutritious, or wholesome by some metric, but if we're judging by actual enjoyment of the food item the Italian-Americans did the right thing with the modifications IMO.
To answer the OP: I don't personally like to eat it, but I do not care about pineapple on pizza, and if others want to eat it that's fine. Pizza has already been so bastardized in a million different ways, it seems weird to me that people will draw some philosophical line in the sand at pineapple not being "true" pizzs
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Chemslayer Link ParentI could not finish Consider Phlebas (the first Culture Series book). I really loved the world, and the world-building, and all the neat scifi details. I just got so dang bored by brooding special...I could not finish Consider Phlebas (the first Culture Series book). I really loved the world, and the world-building, and all the neat scifi details. I just got so dang bored by brooding special boi MC and all his brooding thoughts.
Are the rest in the series noticeably different? I know Culture is a widely respected Scifi series, and I really liked the non-MC side-vignettes and general vibe, but being chained to the narrative following this bloke killed my momentum. If the following books let go of the need for the narrative focus I could see enjoying them more
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Chemslayer Link ParentResponse to spoilers above I'm still only partway through Vol 3 (of 12), but so far it seems like reincarnation made a bunch of sense, even if it was weird as hell. They needed MC to be connected...Response to spoilers above
I'm still only partway through Vol 3 (of 12), but so far it seems like reincarnation made a bunch of sense, even if it was weird as hell. They needed MC to be connected to Ai by more than just idol-obsession, but also just having him be a normal, non-reincarnate child would've meant he couldn't have (realistically) had the drive and determination to dedicate himself to revenge at 3 years old. Plus, "Child avenging parent" is a different vibe than "Idol Stan avenging Idol". He could've just avenged her as an adult doctor, but I feel like that would've been a more straightforward revenge story, whereas this is giving an almost Death-Note-esque "undercover" planned and information gathering plot.
Again, I won't be surprised to be surprised if the story takes another hard genre pivot, but based on my current evidence reincarnation makes sense imo
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Chemslayer LinkStarting reading Oshi No Ko manga. I really loved the author Aka Akasaka's other series Kaguya-Sama: Love is War (thanks again @Trobador for that rec), and this seems to be the only other...Starting reading Oshi No Ko manga. I really loved the author Aka Akasaka's other series Kaguya-Sama: Love is War (thanks again @Trobador for that rec), and this seems to be the only other officially-english-available series of his. I'm halfway through Vol 3 so far, and while I was expecting it to be unhinged (which I enjoy), it has exceeded those expectations ha.
Hard to describe it without too much spoilers, but essentially a 40-something gynecologist is a huge fan of a 16-year-old pop idol (yes it's strange, and the other characters give him a hard time about it, but he at least seems to be as least weird as an adult idol fan can be). But then, scandal, said Idol shows up secretly to his office, pregnant! He works to help her as a doctor wrt to her pregnancy. The story quickly goes in crazy direction from there, so strap in.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Chemslayer LinkFinished Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, and highly recommend it. It's a historical drama, that follows a family of Korean peasants in the early to late 20th century, dealing with wars, Japanese...Finished Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, and highly recommend it. It's a historical drama, that follows a family of Korean peasants in the early to late 20th century, dealing with wars, Japanese colonisation and discrimination, and just general being poor problems. It mostly follows one Korean woman Sunja, but frequently changed perspectives to many different people involved.
It feels very grounded, and while the book doesn't have a central moral to teach, I feel like it does a great job of showing multi-layered people in all kinds of strata and situations. Much like real life, no one is all bad or all good, just having their own motivations and doing what they think is best.
Would highly recommend
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Comment on I think that we won’t see any new and radical new gaming input devices or form factors anymore in ~games
Chemslayer LinkId challenge you to consider why you feel this way about handhelds, but not about smartphones, which almost everyone carries around all day, are way smaller and easier to drop, and can cost well...I cannot relate to people who have the courage to take their $200, $300, $400, $500 (or more expensive) handhelds out into the wild, where they could drop from their hands (I’m very clumsy), get stolen, or worse, only to play on a tiny screen while sitting very uncomfortably. If you do this, please explain to me why you enjoy it. I genuinely don’t understand.
Id challenge you to consider why you feel this way about handhelds, but not about smartphones, which almost everyone carries around all day, are way smaller and easier to drop, and can cost well in excess of $500.
To answer, I have a steam deck, and while I usually play it at home docked on my projector (very large screen!), the main reason I got a deck was the portability. I don't bring it with me everywhere, as it's too large for that IMO, but I do regularly bring it on my weekly plane trips for work. It's obviously a smaller screen than my projector or any TV, but I think you underestimate the ability of the human mind to adapt; unless there's something onerous like tiny text, I don't notice any particular difference in my perception between the tiny screen and the big one. Video games have always had to contend with varying sizes of screens/TVs/monitors, so in my experience most of them make sure to remain legible at all sizes, and the ubiquity and popularity of the steam deck (and switch, for games on both) has also tailored many game developers to consider it's form factor specifically.
Ultimately, anything with any value is going to entail risk bringing it out into the world, but if you're reasonably careful and can also accept there will always be some risk it's fine. And while I'd rather play docked on my projector than not, it's not a choice of projector or no projector on my travels, it's a choice of handheld or nothing. If I had a desktop, my docked experience would be the same, but I couldn't play on planes at all, or in my bed, or in my friends bedroom while we hang out, etc.
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Comment on Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites? in ~space
Chemslayer Link ParentBut I am talking about the sky pollution, how the sky is purple-ish, and even on streets with no streetlights it's still sorta visible. In theory a comprehensive street light system could handle...But I am talking about the sky pollution, how the sky is purple-ish, and even on streets with no streetlights it's still sorta visible. In theory a comprehensive street light system could handle this and also avoid light pollution, but in that absence the "ambient" sky light is appreciated.
I don't feel super strong, and I'm not going to attend a city hall meeting to oppose proper light pollution reduction or anything, but it does kind of comfort me in small ways
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Comment on Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites? in ~space
Chemslayer Link ParentFunny, I live in a city and light pollution is actually one of my pluses; I really like that even at its darkest, it's never too dark. I grew up in the country, and when it got dark it got pitch...Funny, I live in a city and light pollution is actually one of my pluses; I really like that even at its darkest, it's never too dark. I grew up in the country, and when it got dark it got pitch black, and while there was very little actual danger (no strangers around, and not the dangerous variety of wildlife) it was still very unnerving to not be able to see 20 feet ahead of you unless it was a full moon.
Granted, I would love to see more stars, and I can't comment on the environmental impacts of light pollution (I'm sure there are some, but I don't know them), but as a general vibe I enjoy having some light all the time
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Chemslayer LinkFinally finished Lone Wolf and Cub manga after several months and 28 volumes. Overall review is I liked it, and would recommend to anyone who enjoys a very serious samurai story, and doesn't mind...Finally finished Lone Wolf and Cub manga after several months and 28 volumes. Overall review is I liked it, and would recommend to anyone who enjoys a very serious samurai story, and doesn't mind some occasionally gratuitous nudity and plenty of violence.
More in-depth, I feel like the series was padded out, and that a third of it could've easily been cut without impacting either the narrative or the vibe of the story. And that not to say I think a series should just railroad the main narrative at all times; in contrary, the "adventure of the week" style that most of the series takes is something I praised in an earlier post, and still does a good job of showing the "world" of Edo period Japan and the context the story takes place in. What I do mean is that the narrative itself gets drawn out: seemingly invented diversions get created for our hero at several points, including some that end up contradictory,
spoilers
like, he spends several volumes getting and figuring out the secret of the Yagyu letter, and then just decides... nevermind?
There's also an escalation of enemies that feels like the author kept having to one-up himself; every other volume some new, even-more-elite-than-the-last group of warriors gets introduced, shown to be badass, then promptly dispatched by Itto and forgotten.
Regarding Itto over the course of the series, I wish his power scaling had been treated differently. He starts the series as a pretty dang good swordsman, but also a really clever guy who uses knowledge and subversions of Edo standards and customs to accomplish his goals. As the series goes on though, he loses his cleverness, and instead just becomes "really, unrealistically good at swords".
He really jumped the shark for me when
he defeated an entire mounted and armored army by just being good at swords, and especially later when in a drug-induced sleep his warrior reflexes still dispatch an entire group of enemies attacking him, including deflecting projectiles thrown at him, all while dead asleep.
It seems like Koike got tired of trying to come up with clever situations, in favor of a god-like samurai narrative instead.
Yagyu spoilers towards the end
The reverse heel turn of Retsudo going from a scheming guy willing to do anything into an honorable samurai during the Abe arc also felt really out of character, and was then even more confusing by his ending re-heel-turn of going back to dastardly tricks with the exploding ninjas and breaking the sword. And then after all that, he lets Daigoro kill him??
That's all to say, it's not a masterpiece of consistent characterization or stakes-progression, but despite my criticisms it was still a very enjoyable read, and I would recommend it with only little reservation
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Comment on Do you play knock-offs of celebrated indie games? in ~games
Chemslayer Link ParentGame mechanics can't be patented, but game rules and terms can, which is a crucial distinction. The example that always comes up for me is Magic the Gathering calls turning a card sideways "Tap",...Game mechanics can't be patented, but game rules and terms can, which is a crucial distinction. The example that always comes up for me is Magic the Gathering calls turning a card sideways "Tap", "tapping", "tapped", etc. They can (and do) have a protection on the phrase tap to reference that, which is why every other card game uses "exhaust" or "exert" or some other term. But the idea of turning a card sideways to signify it being used is not patentable/copywriteable, which is why those games can do that.
So you could have your own card game, have your dudes get expended, and ready on your turn, and its all fine, but if you call them getting "tapped" or "untapped" you could end up in trouble.
Video games have extra layers of complexity, since you can be dealing with specific software and hardware manipulations (like the other person posted), but the core is still you can't patent or copyright a general mechanic. Of course, patents are like any human system, flawed, and occasionally a big name with a lot of leverage might get something through (like the fairly recent Nintendo patenting Battling with Monsters), but even then it is usually challenged and defeated (I'm not up to date, but last I heard the aforementioned Nintendo patent was on its way to being tossed).
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Comment on Steam Controller 2 sold out in ~games
Chemslayer LinkJesus, I made a comment to my friend this morning that it was kind of a niche item, and with the $99 price tag too I wasn't expecting it to pop off. Thankfully, I did log in 3 minutes before they...Jesus, I made a comment to my friend this morning that it was kind of a niche item, and with the $99 price tag too I wasn't expecting it to pop off.
Thankfully, I did log in 3 minutes before they went on sale (only to discover they had gone on sale early, which annoyed me). It took me twenty minutes of trying to get through the payment processor issues, and during that time the expected ship date went from 3-5 business days to 6-10, but I did manage to snag one. I had originally planned two, but an accident seemingly bricked my e-reader yesterday, so I have to save some money for that.
Glad to see it's popular, hopefully means they'll continue to support and iterate on it (coughability work without steam pleasecough), and I'm excited to try it for myself when it arrives
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Chemslayer LinkFinally getting around to playing Monster Train 2's new DLC; I put about 120 hours into the base game last year and it was great. I bought the DLC on release to support it and am glad to finally...Finally getting around to playing Monster Train 2's new DLC; I put about 120 hours into the base game last year and it was great. I bought the DLC on release to support it and am glad to finally be getting around to it.
Besides two new clans (technically one returning from MT1 and one brand new), the big feature of the DLC is the new Soul Saviour game mode. That's right folks, they added a roguelike mode to this roguelike game! It's an interesting new take, very much more non-linear, and while I haven't broken the game with any of the souls yet I can feel the potential. It is also much harder than the base game, which is a nice little challenge.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Chemslayer LinkAbout a quarter way through Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, which I got a rec from a meme of all places haha. It's been really good so far, it's a grounded drama following some Korean peasants at the...About a quarter way through Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, which I got a rec from a meme of all places haha. It's been really good so far, it's a grounded drama following some Korean peasants at the beginning of the 1900s. Despite being very low-key (in addition to being realistic, these are peasants struggling to get by, not British nobility having balls), it has had a lot of Drama, and has also been a very smooth read.
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Comment on Lost/losing the drive for friendship in ~health.mental
Chemslayer LinkLess common advice: find a cooperative! Depending on where you live they will be more or less common, but any given city usually has a few. Most will be student coops for college kids, but there's...Less common advice: find a cooperative! Depending on where you live they will be more or less common, but any given city usually has a few. Most will be student coops for college kids, but there's plenty of adult co-ops as well.
I've lived in one for almost 4 years now, and it's been great, you get a community of people you see all the time casually, and have a shared purpose (either some cause the co-op dedicates itself to, or at its simplest at least a purpose of "living together in this house"), and usually have community traditions or events that help build bonds.
Every co-op is going to be different, so I'd shop around to try and find one that fits what you're looking for. It does come with costs, having to share both common space and responsibilities for organizing and taking care of the household, but the sense of community is the closest you can get to a "secular church" imo. Happy to answer any other questions as best as I can, if youd like l
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Chemslayer Link ParentDamn, that does suck. I have to figure out how much I care about it; my only gaming device is a steam deck, so even non-steam games are being launched through steam anyway, so in theory it doesn't...Damn, that does suck. I have to figure out how much I care about it; my only gaming device is a steam deck, so even non-steam games are being launched through steam anyway, so in theory it doesn't affect me at all. And I trust valve to actually do the work to open up compatibility later. But I really don't understand how it can't keep a "generic Xbox controller" load out built into the hardware in case steam input isn't running. Again, highly unlikely to actually affect my life, but the knowledge that I couldn't use this controller with anything besides my steam deck stings
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Chemslayer Link ParentDoes the controller need steam, or does steam input need steam? Afaik it works fine as a Bluetooth/wired controller with anything, but needs steam for the remappable steam-input layer (which would...Does the controller need steam, or does steam input need steam? Afaik it works fine as a Bluetooth/wired controller with anything, but needs steam for the remappable steam-input layer (which would be cooler to not need that but seems like a fine compromise either way)
I don't necessarily 100% games, but I do focus on one game at a time, until I feel I've squeezed all the juice out of it. I very very rarely play two games concurrently, unless some are multiplayer with friends (which I sadly haven't had friends who play multiplayer vidyas in a long while).
Usually I'll get a new game (almost always after eyeballing it for a while), and play it until I get bored. I tend towards roguelikes, so usually it's 100-200 hours of play, over the course of months. I will 100% if its reasonable (most recently perfected Hades 2, as the last few achievements after the "natural" conclusion weren't too onorous), but I'm usually fine leaving it undone. Consequently, I very rarely come back to a game once I've sucked it dry, unless some big new content comes out for it (new DLC or expansion level stuff).
I do also feel similar re: having games rot on a digital shelf. I def don't have a clean backlog (I too used to be into the many game bundles back in the day), but nowadays I only really get a game when I'm going to play it pretty much immediately. Spending money on something that I might use later feels bad to me, and I'm so patient when it comes to gaming I don't get FOMO on sales as I can just wait until it goes on sale again.
So, while I don't 100% them, I do focus on one game at a time at length until I've gathered all the joy I can, before moving onto the next.