Flashfall's recent activity
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
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Comment on Popcorn! What's the best way to make it? in ~food
Flashfall LinkHaven't made it myself, but Brian David Gilbert's Pepcorn video definitely looks like one of the tastiest popcorn recipes I've seen. Uses a wok, gochugaru, and Lao Gan Ma so it's gonna have some...Haven't made it myself, but Brian David Gilbert's Pepcorn video definitely looks like one of the tastiest popcorn recipes I've seen. Uses a wok, gochugaru, and Lao Gan Ma so it's gonna have some heat to it.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkAce Combat 8, lots of Ace Combat 8, both campaign and online. Went for a gun-only run for the medal but I must've fired a missile by accident at some point so it didn't count, which was annoying....Ace Combat 8, lots of Ace Combat 8, both campaign and online. Went for a gun-only run for the medal but I must've fired a missile by accident at some point so it didn't count, which was annoying. Going for all of the secret aces in each mission now with one of the endgame not real planes (name omitted for spoiler sake) and this thing handles like I'm trying to grip a stick of warm butter, it rolls and pitches with absolutely zero resistance haha.
As for online, I've been grinding sorties for more Zoll (in-game cash) because it takes so damn much to raise the level cap of a plane, and that's even with the 2x Zoll boosters. Wouldn't be so bad if Emergency Sortie and Scramble showed up more often since they give way more and are also just the most fun game modes by a lot, but I'm lucky to get 2 of them to show up in a play session. Current favorite planes are the Su-33 for air-heavy missions and dogfighting in Warfare, and the Su-34 for groundpounding, which it does magnificently. Sukhoi planes are just real pretty.
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Comment on Fall 2026 | Which anime do you look forward to? in ~anime
Flashfall Link ParentAbsolutely magnificent ride, among Trigger's best works. You're gonna ugly cry, a lot.Absolutely magnificent ride, among Trigger's best works. You're gonna ugly cry, a lot.
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Comment on Fall 2026 | Which anime do you look forward to? in ~anime
Flashfall LinkCyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is definitely going to be the highlight of the season for me, just from the trailers and clips alone I can tell this is gonna make a lot of people cry.Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is definitely going to be the highlight of the season for me, just from the trailers and clips alone I can tell this is gonna make a lot of people cry.
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Comment on Fall 2026 | Which anime do you look forward to? in ~anime
Flashfall Link ParentSorry to rain on your parade but the movie is just being screened in Japanese theaters this season. Who knows how long we'll have to actually wait for it to show up online afterwards, or even less...Made in Abyss
Sorry to rain on your parade but the movie is just being screened in Japanese theaters this season. Who knows how long we'll have to actually wait for it to show up online afterwards, or even less likely, in US theaters.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentSo I finally finished the campaign for the first time on veteran in cockpit-only view, and while there were some great moments in the last few missions, I think the last 3 missions were a net loss...So I finally finished the campaign for the first time on veteran in cockpit-only view, and while there were some great moments in the last few missions, I think the last 3 missions were a net loss to the overall fun factor. My first complaint is that missions 28 and 30 are just way too long and the post-checkpoint fights for each are more annoying than anything. Mission 29 on the other hand was basically just an interactive cutscene and a bit of a letdown after so much buildup.
Spoilers here:
Getting to see all the other non-Sotoan squadrons show up to support you during 28 was really great, I just wish it didn't take half an hour to do so. Shadow 22's squadron is kind of bullshit though, they're practically immune to anything but SASMs, QAAMs, and machine guns due to PSM magically making them invisible to missiles which is just really annoying.The first part of 30 with shooting down the SLBMs could be several minutes shorter without missing any dialogue, 10 minutes of chasing and shooting down slow ass missiles is dull. The last part with destroying the sub in time is also really annoying due to how many hits you need to get in, and I failed it a few times because I was just dumping all my bombs instead of waiting for a new set of targets to spawn on it.
Honestly, the superweapons and aces in this game just don't hit as hard. Don't get me wrong, the first land battleship fight was excellent, but all the other land battleship fights just paled in comparison after that. The Ladons are some of the most annoying enemy design I've ever seen for a superweapon, did they really think it'd be fun to have to shoot down something that's tanky, always supersonic, and has constant jamming? The Celaeno fight's alright but I'm not a fan of the shockwave drone mechanic, plus it's just not intimidating though I guess it's not meant to be. The megafloat was literally just me flying in circles and shooting pillars, so while the enemy density is a fun initial shock it was actually a little too easy.
The best part of Shadow squadron is them singing their battle chant before engaging but aside from that they have way less personality than other enemy ace squadrons. I consider Shadow 22 to be the real final ace duel since Moon 11 is just a worse and easier Huginn/Muninn fight. He doesn't hold a candle to Mihaly, or Pasternak, or Pixy, or most of the enemy aces from previous games really. He doesn't even fly an experimental fighter since that was stolen from him for a worse fight.
I'd still put AC8 in the top 3 because of how much content there is and how good it is overall, but the enemy characters are a lot less memorable and meme-worthy compared to previous entries. I hope they can make a comeback with a Torres-level cartoon villain in the DLC, whenever that drops.
Now I guess I'll go for medals and grind the multiplayer some more. I was trying to get all S-ranks on this first playthrough but those final missions screwed that up and I'd rather not waste time on those at veteran. I'll just get them all at once when I finish it on Ace.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentPW is interesting in that it's a love letter to Ace Combat games, but just different enough to not be a clone. Lower amounts of polish and budget for writing aside, PW is basically an equal to a...PW is interesting in that it's a love letter to Ace Combat games, but just different enough to not be a clone. Lower amounts of polish and budget for writing aside, PW is basically an equal to a pre-AC7 Ace Combat game in terms of actual gameplay and controls, arguably superior even due to offering more game modes outside of the campaign and having an even higher skill ceiling with the ability to laugh at physics on demand with AoA limiter. I'm not a super hardcore player so I beat the campaign and the DLC on hard and decided I was satisfied with the amount of orange saturating my eyes at that point. Still probably the best Kickstarter project I've funded, well worth it.
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Comment on Grotesqqque | Official trailer (Oct 8) in ~anime
Flashfall LinkAlien girl ambassador had my curiosity, but vampire yuri? Now you have my attention.Alien girl ambassador had my curiosity, but vampire yuri? Now you have my attention.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentSimilar experience to @turbografx16, I thought Remake was pretty mid after my first playthrough but doing a second playthrough on hard mode was surprisingly a lot more fun. The combat suddenly...Similar experience to @turbografx16, I thought Remake was pretty mid after my first playthrough but doing a second playthrough on hard mode was surprisingly a lot more fun. The combat suddenly required a lot more thought than before (which was basically just mashing buttons on normal and not learning attack telegraphs at all), and I got into a good flow of picking out weaknesses and building stagger with some party members while prepping some huge hits with others. There were still some fights that were kind of a drag (why is the worst enemy in the game a sentient domicile) but most of the fights are vastly improved when you actually need to learn the fight.
Rebirth is a lot more flexible gameplay-wise since it's open world and there's also just a ton more content, especially mini-games. I found the storytelling to be a lot better and not nearly as confusing and jarring as Remake's (they actually explain what these damn Whispers are), and having more time and space to tell the story lets them more firmly establish the new trilogy's own identity while still paying massive homage to the original. If the combat of Remake was the high point for you, it's even better in Rebirth. I think you'd enjoy it, but it does take a while to finish.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkGot to play Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve a few days ahead of the standard release thanks to deluxe edition and so far I'm not regretting spending the extra cash (there's other goodies I wanted too...Got to play Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve a few days ahead of the standard release thanks to deluxe edition and so far I'm not regretting spending the extra cash (there's other goodies I wanted too other than just early access). This is definitely the most ambitious work from Project Aces yet, featuring the longest campaign out of all the games by a good margin as well as a built-in online mode that is fairly groundbreaking for the series, as it features both co-op and pvp modes with online lobbies, vs the super limited pvp-only blind matchmaking in previous entries.
Online
I'll cover my experience of online first since I've sunk some 10+ hours into that. The lobby itself is pretty basic but functional, and being able to see other pilots at all is nice. The menu navigation is pretty terrible because a lot of things are nested in multiple menus and there's a noticeable delay going from one menu to another. Even the devs are aware of this because there's an option to exit out of all menus by holding the back button, though that's not a great compromise.
The currently available online game modes are Co-op Assault (pve), Co-op Warfare (pvpve), Team Deathmatch (pvp), and Scramble/Emergency Sortie (special missions). Assault, Warfare, TDM, and Emergency Sortie have 8 players. The first 3 has 2 teams of 4 competing against each other for score. Emergency Sortie has all 8 on the same team working together to destroy a superweapon in the time limit. Scramble is 4 players only and puts you up against 8 AI fighters with a higher difficulty setting. Each sortie is very short, lasting no longer than 6-8 minutes (not including loading in and selecting planes), and can feel even shorter when you have experienced players just decimating every enemy in sight. It would be nice if they were a bit longer and there were more enemies to kill, but that leads to my next point.
The system for leveling up planes, ranking up your pilot, and unlocking new aircraft is a grindy one, as expected of any online game developed in the east. Leveling up planes is simple enough, you do a sortie with it and get some xp, and each level raises its stats and/or unlocks more capacity for your weapons. Every 5 levels there's a cap which you need to unlock by spending credits (in-game currency) and using blueprints for that plane, which cost 1000 credits each. Ranking up your pilot is even simpler - completing a sortie gets you 100 pilot xp, win or lose, and each new rank unlocks more aircraft for purchase. Later ranks take more xp - the next rank for me takes 2000 total and there's still some 6 ranks after that. Having really short sorties makes it easier to level up that way, but it would be more fun to just have longer ones that gave more xp. Unlocking new aircraft is a matter of getting to the rank where it's available, then having enough credits to buy it.
There's also a season pass. The vast majority of unlocks there are just cosmetics like paint jobs, decals, or clothes for your pilot, with some xp, credit boosts, and universal plane blueprints sprinkled in. You can get season pass xp from sorties and daily/weekly challenges, but the rewards are more of a nice bonus than anything else so there's no real pressure to progress it.
Overall, it's nice to be able to play co-op at all but it is pretty basic. I'm hoping It's expanded on and we get more rewarding and higher difficulty sorties soon so folks aren't just racing for kills and the lowest scorers actually feel like they contributed.
Campaign
I haven't fully finished the campaign yet since I distracted myself with online but I'm 25 missions in and it's been a great experience so far. Will avoid spoilers, but we've got all the classics - crazy superweapons that drown your screen in warnings, super cocky enemy ace pilots, allies singing your praises after you decimate whoever's firing on them, enemies shitting themselves in disbelief after you almost singlehandedly promote their entire fighting force to salvage, badass boss themes, the dreaded stealth mission (ugh I really didn't enjoy this one lol), a few setpieces of tunnels or structures with openings juuuust wide enough to fly through, fun and campy banter from your wingmen, a nice 3d topographical display for the mission briefings, and faint suspicions of some high-tech bullshit going on (belkan witchcraft?).
What's pretty new are the cutscenes between just about every mission - a lot of them are from your pilot's POV so you get to witness events from your angle rather than having some universal knowledge of all the events unfolding from the shadows. The storytelling and dialogue ranges from fine to pretty good, which is high praise for this series as the narrative was always a distant second to the gameplay (it still is but that's just because the gameplay's awesome). I like all the characters for the most part - none of them are too annoying or overdone to the point of being a caricature. It helps if you go in expecting campy action b-movie quality dialogue with very unsubtle messaging. Is it the best story Project Aces has told? That's incredibly subjective and extremely vulnerable to nostalgia bias unfortunately. It's definitely the most fleshed out one by far though, so I'll give credit where it's due.
I am annoyed that the Su-37 isn't in the base game though. I KNOW they're going to release it later in a plane DLC pack and I will buy it, but come on. Take care not to milk your fans too much.
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Comment on Oatly, the world's largest producer of oat milk, is sending a new message to its consumers – most people want their governments to take action on climate change in ~enviro
Flashfall LinkWell symbolic activism is still activism I guess. I'll raise them a glass of cold brew with some Oatly instead of heavy cream tomorrow morning.Well symbolic activism is still activism I guess. I'll raise them a glass of cold brew with some Oatly instead of heavy cream tomorrow morning.
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Comment on Do you have an "anime of the season"? | Summer 2026 (June - Sept) in ~anime
Flashfall LinkProbably no surprise considering it's the only thing I gave a 10/10 this season in my review (did not expect a callout but thanks OP, hope it was informative), but The Ghost in the Shell (2026) is...Probably no surprise considering it's the only thing I gave a 10/10 this season in my review (did not expect a callout but thanks OP, hope it was informative), but The Ghost in the Shell (2026) is my AotS. I was already a fan of most of the previous adaptations but never read the original manga, so experiencing it as an animation with a ton of talent and passion poured into it was just a real joy each week. It somehow manages to rapidly switch between being introspective, lighthearted, heavy, and whimsical while never missing a beat. Also, have I mentioned how much I enjoy seeing Batou being happy? Because there's a whole lot of that and it's all great.
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Comment on 'Chainsmoker Cat' anime discussion, what do you think? in ~anime
Flashfall Link ParentHame Neko is an innocent angel compared to Asmongold. Heck, even comparing Yaniko to Asmongold is a huge insult to Yaniko, at least she's a chill and caring person when she's not desperately...Hame Neko is an innocent angel compared to Asmongold. Heck, even comparing Yaniko to Asmongold is a huge insult to Yaniko, at least she's a chill and caring person when she's not desperately trying to get another smoke. Asmongold can't even use drug addiction as an excuse, he straight up doesn't want to take a shower. Actual champion of Nurgle IRL.
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Comment on 'Sparks of Tomorrow' anime discussion in ~anime
Flashfall LinkIt feels like a too many cooks situation even if all of the cooks are good at what they do. A bunch of different people pitching ideas on art styles, character designs, and story ideas, resulting...It feels like a too many cooks situation even if all of the cooks are good at what they do. A bunch of different people pitching ideas on art styles, character designs, and story ideas, resulting in an odd amalgamation that has a beautiful base but many strange additions that detract from the whole. Sudden changes in character art styles meant to emphasize their emotions were jarring instead, every single character felt like an overblown caricature or stereotype, the entire first half of the story felt largely episodic and unrelated to the main plot, and many scenes and costumes were added in without adding much seemingly just because they wanted to animate them. It wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't rewatch it or recommend it to anyone even if they were a die hard KyoAni fan. There's so many other shows that better showcase their talent and passion, like City the Animation (please watch City it's so good).
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentMinor not really spoilers I actually went straight to the Park as soon as I unlocked Central and I got so used to fighting them in the open world due to the huge level imbalance (everything had a...Minor not really spoilers
I actually went straight to the Park as soon as I unlocked Central and I got so used to fighting them in the open world due to the huge level imbalance (everything had a skull next to their health bar) that the boss fight itself ended up being easier than some of the open world fights I had.
My advice is to get the molded bar artifact from the vendor there which makes dealing with mold way less of a hassle, and if you want to make it easy then do the Central resonant first. The combat ability you get from that trivializes mold fights, and it lets you open some locked doors too.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentThe wipes make sense if the devs plan on really changing things up between seasons, so it provides a clean break and makes it more fair for everybody to get used to the new changes as they all...The wipes make sense if the devs plan on really changing things up between seasons, so it provides a clean break and makes it more fair for everybody to get used to the new changes as they all start fresh rather than some folks just having instant access to the new stuff and dumpstering others with it from day 1. Even then though, there should be some steps taken towards either reducing the grind or encouraging players to actually specialize in a role to make significant and rapid progress in it. A small daily xp stipend that ensures every player has at least the basic unlocks for each spec to play with by the send of the season, choosing one or two specs to target each season and get an xp multiplier for, and drastically lowering the xp curve so that hitting the max level of a spec doesn't require exploits or hardcore farming.
I'm not a dev though, nor do I provide feedback to the devs anywhere, so I'm just spitballing ideas into the wind.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentI'm not sure if you're already aware but the devs are planning on having seasonal progress wipes which does partially fix the issue of gear and grind imbalance, but also means that you and others...I'm not sure if you're already aware but the devs are planning on having seasonal progress wipes which does partially fix the issue of gear and grind imbalance, but also means that you and others with less time to play may just never unlock most of the gear in the game. The devs have also said that they're planning on a whole bunch of balancing changes for the next season though, which hopefully translates into greatly reducing the grind and straight up removing some of the most problematic items (have you tried the infrared spotter? absolutely insane).
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentThat's fair enough and to each their own. I'd just like to know more on why the bosses felt overly powerful for you because I mostly just mashed abilities and left click with some dodging and I...That's fair enough and to each their own. I'd just like to know more on why the bosses felt overly powerful for you because I mostly just mashed abilities and left click with some dodging and I think the only boss I died to was the very first one. That's going to come off as a humble brag but I really did just left mouse spam my way through most of the game, I don't think they meant for it to be anywhere near as challenging or mechanically demanding as the typical souls-like.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentI'd like to hear more about your experience here, because it contrasts with mine but I'm fairly comfortable with hack n slash games. Did the bosses feel like they had too much health or damage?...bosses are way too powerful
I'd like to hear more about your experience here, because it contrasts with mine but I'm fairly comfortable with hack n slash games. Did the bosses feel like they had too much health or damage? Were you able to figure out the attacks to dodge them? Did you have upgrades to your weapons and talents? What weapons and abilities were you mostly using?
You may want to repost in this thread instead of the manga/anime one, but thanks for contributing nonetheless.