Illyrian'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 Sex education book 'Welcome to Sex' is a best-seller, but has been pulled off one Australian retailer's shelves after a conservative backlash, including death threats against one of the authors in ~books
Illyrian Link ParentSpeaking anecdotally as someone who grew up in a small rural town in the midwest, keeping kids ignorant is absolutely the point of this. I know that "Don't have sex, you'll get pregnant and die."...Speaking anecdotally as someone who grew up in a small rural town in the midwest, keeping kids ignorant is absolutely the point of this. I know that "Don't have sex, you'll get pregnant and die." is a meme--but it's about as close to proper sex ed as we got at my middle/high school around 2008. Sex outside of marriage was bad. Condoms? Unreliable, you'll get pregnant/get someone pregnant. Other forms of sex/stimulation that aren't PIV? Deviant, even in marriage.
This was a public school system, mind you. One where our high school biology teacher "accidentally" skipped the lesson on evolution.
You can talk statistics and outcomes as much as you want. All the data that shows that proper sex education is infinitely healthier and safer. Sadly it doesn't matter when what you're up against is "This is evil/degenerate/will earn eternal punishment if allowed."
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Comment on Diablo 4 update nerfs all five classes in ~games
Illyrian LinkI broke my personal rule about not pre-ordering games with Diablo IV--and I strongly regret doing so. Granted, I'm not the most hardcore ARPG player, but do have quite a few hours put into Path of...I broke my personal rule about not pre-ordering games with Diablo IV--and I strongly regret doing so.
Granted, I'm not the most hardcore ARPG player, but do have quite a few hours put into Path of Exile/Grim Dawn/Last Epoch and a fairly decent understanding of those games' systems. For me, D4 breaks the power fantasy that is pretty much fundamental to the genre. You never actually feel powerful. Sure, you're getting new abilities and new items. The numbers go up just like you want them to... but it never feels like you're getting anywhere. Enemies take just as long to kill at level 50 as they do at level 25. My level 50 rogue felt nearly identical to my level 25 rogue when I unlocked the majority of the abilities I was using in my build.
I didn't play too far into the "endgame" of D4 because it was actively not fun. I don't think I've had that feeling with any other ARPG that I've played. Yeah, the Path of Exile endgame (which is really the actual game) is grindy as all hell. The difference is that mapping is actively fun. Numbers are going up, and you actively feel stronger. You can focus on zooming through maps, focus on bosses, or focus on one of a plethora of mechanics. There's big goals to work toward in gearing up, and despite Path of Exile having a... unique crafting system, you can still make good progress toward those even as a fairy casual player.
After seeing the details of this patch, I have zero interest in returning to D4. I uninstalled it last night, and will wind up using that space on my SSD for Baldur's Gate 3. Which, admittedly, I also pre-ordered ages ago... but I have infinitely more trust for Larian than Blizzard. Shame on me for thinking Blizzard might not royally fuck up D4, I guess.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Illyrian Link Parent100% the same feeling for me after finishing the campaign. The game is gorgeous, but that's... about all there is to it. IMO, the level scaling is what does it in. You never really hit a point at...100% the same feeling for me after finishing the campaign. The game is gorgeous, but that's... about all there is to it.
IMO, the level scaling is what does it in. You never really hit a point at which you truly feel powerful, at least not from what I've played so far. Every single enemy is a damage sponge, period. Every fight is reduced to just kiting a pack/the boss, spamming your basic skill while waiting for your resources to build up again so you can use your core skill once or twice, then back to basic skill spam with some dodging/mobility/buff skills thrown in on top occasionally. The combat just doesn't feel good, and the power fantasy that usually comes along with ARPGs just doesn't ever really come into play.
Granted, I haven't dumped time into grinding past the main story. I get wanting the real power to be in the endgame, so maybe that's just where they've put everything. I'd still expect to feel more powerful even as the story progresses, though. Instead, I just get a new ability every few levels. My level 50ish Rogue felt exactly the same as my level 25ish Rogue did when I picked up the last of the main abilities I needed for my build. Even in Path of Exile, a game defined by endgame grind, you still get major upgrades and boosts in power fantasy all throughout the acts.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Illyrian LinkStreet Fighter 6 - Really been enjoying this one! SF6 is my second fighting game (after getting into the genre with Guilty Gear: Strive roughly a year after it's release), and I've had a good time...Street Fighter 6 - Really been enjoying this one! SF6 is my second fighting game (after getting into the genre with Guilty Gear: Strive roughly a year after it's release), and I've had a good time learning the game's systems, figuring out how to use links as opposed to gatlings like I'm used to in Strive, etc. Settled on DeeJay after some fooling around initially and am currently in low Platinum. Very different experience than Strive/BlazBlue Central Fiction, but super fun so far. Will it replace Strive as my main fighting game? I'm not entirely sure yet. Being able to just hop into SF6 and play the game without fighting with the servers in addition to my opponents sure has been nice though!
Hunt: Showdown - Hoo boy. Picked this up on a whim at the end of the Steam sale after hearing some good things about it and finding myself somewhat in the mood for an FPS. I went into it fully expecting to not really enjoy the game. The genre as a whole hasn't really clicked with me in the past, and aside from Titanfall 2 (which was an absolute blast) I've largely bounced off every FPS I've tried to get into--especially "battle royale" style games.
Hunt is so damn fun. I've mostly played solo vs trios, but have also played some duos with a friend as well as the quickplay/soul survivor mode. I haven't figured out exactly what clicked this time around, but I think a major element is the slightly slower pace of the game. Playing solo is also perfectly viable, which is a huge win in my book. I've shied away from other games of this style (along with the character-based shooters like Valorant) because of the heavy emphasis on team play and coordination. I don't think it's a bad thing, it's just not my cup of tea.
Pillars of Eternity - Playing through this in anticipation of the upcoming Baldur's Gate 3 release. My experience with CRPG style games has been limited to turn-based (Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous), so playing something with no turn-based option has been a nice change. Really enjoying this so far, although I've only just started out.
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Comment on What game is your current addiction? in ~games
Illyrian LinkHunt: Showdown I'm not normally into FPS games, especially not battle royale or extraction style FPS games. Fighting games (Guilty Gear: Strive, Street Fighter 6, Blazblue Central Fiction) have...Hunt: Showdown
I'm not normally into FPS games, especially not battle royale or extraction style FPS games. Fighting games (Guilty Gear: Strive, Street Fighter 6, Blazblue Central Fiction) have been my go-to for quite awhile now, alongside stuff like the recent Age of Wonders 4, Into the Storm, Humankind, etc.
But man, Hunt is fun. I picked it up at the very end of the Steam summer sale. I'm utterly garbage at the game, but for the first time have actually found myself wanting to improve at an FPS.
If you don't know about it, the basic rundown of the game is that it's a PvPvE extraction shooter set in late 19th century Louisiana. The weapons are all from that period (and act like it, so don't think you'll be instantly reloading that revolver in 2 seconds flat), and the PvE enemies include a variety of humanoid forms. A bit cliche there, but the setting is honestly fairly interesting after you dig in a bit and get beyond the surface level "oh boy, another FPS game with zombies. How original." reaction that I had initially.
Your goal in the main game mode is to find clues scattered about the map that will lead you to a boss. Kill the boss, banish it (which basically involves setting up camp to defend yourself while a timer ticks down), then grab a bounty token from it and get to the nearest extraction point ASAP. It's a fairly simple concept, with other AI enemies of various types scattered across the map. Other players are trying to do the same thing, and can be grouped up in teams of 2 or 3, or running solo.
What makes the game special is the sound, though. Sound (and trying to avoid making too much) is incredibly important. Everything in Hunt that is audible to you is audible to other players. Your footsteps. The shrill cry of a flock of crows you spooked who are now flying south across the map and making sure everyone knows where you are. The crack of a rifle from 200+ meters away to the east as someone attempts to take out another player they came across. Sound traps like chains that dangle from the rooftops of buildings that make plenty of noise when a player walks through them as opposed to crouching below them to avoid them.
It definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea, to be sure. The character and equipment system is a permadeath system. Get caught out in the open unexpectedly by someone trying to defend a boss location while it banishes? You just lost the character, all their traits (perks), and all their equipment. This isn't quite as bad as it sounds, though--as you can build up traits on a new Hunter pretty quickly just by running a few games where you focus on PvE stuff. Or you can just keep playing as normal with the basic levered rifle (a Winchester clone) and a pistol, because the cheaper basic weapons are more than capable of holding their own.
It can definitely be a frustrating game, but I think I've had more fun playing Hunt than I have almost any other FPS I've played, and likely most of my usual rotation of games as well. Killing a boss followed by the tension of waiting while it banishes, defending against pushes from other players, is genuinely enjoyable. Unlike many other popular FPS games at the moment, playing solo is completely viable. Sure, it is a bit more challenging... but man does it feel good to successfully ambush a team or sneakily nab a bounty moments after another player banishes the boss the killed before making a break for the nearest extraction point. I play mostly solo, with some duo gameplay with a friend of mine, and honestly I think I enjoy the solo gameplay a bit more!
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Comment on Zero to low prep games in ~games.tabletop
Illyrian LinkI'll make a strong recommendation for Ten Candles if you're at all into horror games or unique mechanics! It's important to go into the game with everyone understanding one thing, though. The...I'll make a strong recommendation for Ten Candles if you're at all into horror games or unique mechanics! It's important to go into the game with everyone understanding one thing, though. The players will fail. Nobody plays Ten Candles to win, you play to tell a story as a group. The players (and you as well) have to have hope that they will succeed, even knowing this. Not all playgroups are into that sort of thing so I try my best to always bring that up.
The game setup is all done collaboratively with your players, and the core rules come with a pretty decent variety of scenarios to help guide you as you run the game, but you can also come up with entire scenarios on your own too.
It plays in a much shorter amount of time than most TTRPGs--usually in around 4-ish hours for a session from my experience. The game's core mechanic revolves around a set of ten tealight candles (lit two at a time during setup) that also double as the lighting for the session. It's leans pretty hard into the collaborative storytelling aspect of TTRPGs, with the players actually able to take narrative control depending on the outcomes of their rolls. The tealight candles will burn out as the game plays out, either on their own... or accidentally because a player bumped the table, sneezed in the wrong direction, yelled, etc. Each time a candle burns out the party's dice pool shrinks, the GM's dice pool grows, and the game timeline shifts along to a new scene.
It's genuinely hard to put into words the feelings I had as I ran Ten Candles for the first time. The party's excitement when they had the chance to determine what they found inside an abandoned truck when they won narrative control for the first time. Their horror when someone laughed too hard and a candle went out at the worst possible moment. Desperation leading to the need to burn (literally) a character trait card to try and rescue someone. Even having not run the game before, it all just worked--and that session is still my favorite TTRPG session to date even six years later.
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Comment on Introductions | June 2023, part 2 in ~talk
Illyrian Link ParentI need to give Draw a Box another shot! I found the site quite awhile ago back in college, but made the mistake of taking four project-based classes in a single semester and promptly forgot that...I need to give Draw a Box another shot! I found the site quite awhile ago back in college, but made the mistake of taking four project-based classes in a single semester and promptly forgot that DaB existed. If I remember correctly I think I got through all the Lesson 1 homework, but never started on the 250 box challenge.
My interests are mainly in character art/design, environments, and to some extent concept art. Right now I'm still in the very beginning stages of learning, and admittedly struggle quite a bit with drawing what I want to draw due to needing to get over the hurdle of my brain telling me that I can't draw that yet. I can... just not well. And that's perfectly fine, hah!
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Comment on Introductions | June 2023, part 2 in ~talk
Illyrian Link ParentIt's definitely a challenge! I've considered a practice mute, but those have all sorts of problems that come along with them (increased backpressure, different feel for notes and partials, no real...It's definitely a challenge! I've considered a practice mute, but those have all sorts of problems that come along with them (increased backpressure, different feel for notes and partials, no real concept of tone) that tend to make them not ideal for regular practice. I've actually got two neighbors right now that work nights, so that's the main reason I can't really practice, aside from just general apartment life courtesy hah.
I'll figure something out eventually, I'm sure!
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Comment on Introductions | June 2023, part 2 in ~talk
Illyrian LinkHello! I'm Illyrian. I happened to stumble across Tildes a bit before the current debacle and lurked some, but decided I may as well request an invite given what's currently going on elsewhere....Hello! I'm Illyrian. I happened to stumble across Tildes a bit before the current debacle and lurked some, but decided I may as well request an invite given what's currently going on elsewhere. I'm in my late twenties, work as a software developer in the midwestern US, and have two shelter rescue black cats who are very pleased that I'm full-time remote these days.
I'm currently in the process of attempting to teach myself to draw--which has also turned out to be an exercise in relearning how to learn outside of an academic environment. I've made less progress than I think I would have liked on both fronts, but I've recently re-framed my goals and thought processes to be more in line with the saying "make progress, not perfection" and have found that to be a much healthier headspace.
As for other hobbies, I'm a recent convert to fighting games thanks to picking up Guilty Gear: Strive about a year and a half ago. The genre as a whole just finally clicked with me after a friend convinced me to give Strive a shot, and I've really enjoyed the chance to catch up on literally an entire genre of games I'd previously written off as not for me. I main I-no in Strive, Lee and Bryan in Tekken 7, and most recently Deejay in Street Fighter 6.
I'm also a musician, although since I play trombone I can't really practice all that much thanks to living in an apartment at the moment. I need to do some work to get myself back to where I was in college there, and as much as I enjoy working through Rochut etudes, technical studies, and solo lit... I don't think my neighbors would be pleased, hah. I've considered picking up a somewhat quieter instrument to learn in order to keep my music fundamentals in a good place, with cello currently being the leading option.
Looking forward to getting settled in here and finding a community or two to get myself involved in a bit more regularly!
Tekken 8 - I was incredibly excited for Tekken 8, after getting into Tekken 7 near the end of its' lifespan. That excitement has all but died out by now thanks to a combination of poor balance, patches that have actually-factually broken the game and introduced major bugs (that were patched out a bit over a week later, along with more micro-transactions being added), and what appears to have been a stealth change to matchmaking that has resulted in much longer queue times and significantly poorer quality matches. That last bit hasn't been confirmed yet, but there was definitely some sort of change that went out.
Decided yesterday that I'm going to take a bit of a break from T8 for the time being. Let things settle a bit, see how EVO Japan plays out, see how they handle some of the current backlash (like the game dropping to Mostly Negative in recent reviews on Steam, for a variety of reasons), etc. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it back up in a month or so, because at its' core I think it could be a fantastic game.
Final Fantasy XIV - I'm not really an MMO person, usually. Can't get into WoW for the life of me, bounced off Guild Wars 2 pretty hard. I started playing FFXIV about two years ago now and have been in love with the game from the start. I've got a (very) small group of friends I play with casually, and just got my second job (a healer) to level 90 so I don't have to deal with DPS queue times when the new expansion comes out this summer.
Hunt: Showdown - Still absolutely loving Hunt. It's the only FPS I play, and even with how brutal it can be from time to time when going on a "Hunt Taketh" spree I can't help but enjoy playing. The game's atmosphere, the gunplay, etc all just feels fantastic. I've improved a solid amount since I started, bringing my K/D up from 0.81 to 1.36. Very much looking forward to the upcoming engine upgrade. Nothing feels better than clutching a tense 1v3 encounter... at least until you hear a second full trio sprinting up to the compound you just finished fighting in!
Spirit Island - My tabletop game group got into this somewhat recently and it's fair to say we've all fallen in love with this game. Long story short, it's a coop game where you play as spirits defending an island from invaders bent on colonizing the it. There's an incredible amount of variety in what the individual spirits are capable of, and the expansions add a good amount of complexity/additional mechanics after you figure out the base game.