kfwyre's recent activity

  1. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I don't know where this information exists in-game (if at all), but the strategy guide has this to say about Cath: So, quite possibly? Also I love your screenshots. That one from the end of the...

    I don't know where this information exists in-game (if at all), but the strategy guide has this to say about Cath:

    Barred from medical practice in the U.S. because of his unorthodox methods and interest in ancient and esoteric forms of medicine, Cath has been living quietly in Paris.

    So, quite possibly?

    Also I love your screenshots. That one from the end of the game is particularly egregious.

    4 votes

  2. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    In a late-game conversation with Abbott, he mentions that Cath, the doctor, attempted to save the police officer, and that Cath's implication in his death was a mistake. I genuinely don't know if...

    In a late-game conversation with Abbott, he mentions that Cath, the doctor, attempted to save the police officer, and that Cath's implication in his death was a mistake.

    I genuinely don't know if this is actually true, or if this is Abbott's way of doing a wink-wink "we can make this go away" suggestion in an attempt to recruit Cath.

    4 votes

  3. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Great writeup, Wes! Nope! You have to wait for him. He announces stops and meal times (including first and second dinner service), so he's out of his post somewhat frequently. On the second day,...

    Great writeup, Wes!

    Sidenote: is there a way to distract the trainmaster? I started writing down his schedule just to keep on top of it.

    Nope! You have to wait for him. He announces stops and meal times (including first and second dinner service), so he's out of his post somewhat frequently. On the second day, he also leaves his post a few times to talk to the red car conductor.

    I do agree this is one of the more frustrating things about the game. The game gives you a VERY CLEAR spot to put the egg, so it's baffling to the player when that's not the right place to put it. Not only can you lose it to Kahina stealing it, you also lose it if you unhitch the cars and it's still in your compartment.

    Also, the notch in the back of Max's cage feels kind of cheap. It's a perfectly convenient hiding place for the egg that seems to have no other purpose except to exist as that hiding place? My best effort at an in-universe explanation is that it's a little door that opens from the other side to let someone put food and water into the cage. This is somewhat satisfying, except for the fact that, when you go into the baggage car, you can see that where it would be is blocked by crates. So, it really does just feel like a cheap hiding place that exists for its own sake.

    I thought I was being clever when I stole the detonator from him, but the cheeky bugger just found a different clock to use. It led to this hilarious dialogue:

    One of my favorite endings. Abbott is such a great character! Or maybe I'm just partial to fast-talking dandies?

    I did at least disconnect the train completely by accident in chapter 6, so that was a freebie.

    LOVE this. XD

    You did a great write-up as our very first hostess, @CannibalisticApple.

    She absolutely CRUSHED it! Incredible work.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on Colossal Game Adventure Schedule: September 2025 - March 2026 in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link
    Chrono Trigger, our next game, is on sale on Steam for 50% off until September 29. Humble Choice subscribers who have the Choice discount can get a little bit more off the price at the Humble...

    Chrono Trigger, our next game, is on sale on Steam for 50% off until September 29.

    Humble Choice subscribers who have the Choice discount can get a little bit more off the price at the Humble Store.

    We are really lucking out with the timing of these sales so far!

    6 votes

  5. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    ScummVM running on Windows, streamed via Moonlight to Linux (I originally planned to play it directly on Linux but couldn't get the ScummVM daily build to run, so I had to add the extra hop)

    ScummVM running on Windows, streamed via Moonlight to Linux

    (I originally planned to play it directly on Linux but couldn't get the ScummVM daily build to run, so I had to add the extra hop)

    3 votes

  6. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    I'm curious about how many different hardware/software/on a train setups we used to play this game. Share yours in a reply (or vote on a reply if it matches yours).

    I'm curious about how many different hardware/software/on a train setups we used to play this game.

    Share yours in a reply (or vote on a reply if it matches yours).

    4 votes

  7. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    When this game came out, I was, well, that weird kid who was super into The Last Express. I didn't know anyone else who played and loved games like this. Hell, as an adult, I still don't know...

    When this game came out, I was, well, that weird kid who was super into trains The Last Express. I didn't know anyone else who played and loved games like this. Hell, as an adult, I still don't know anyone else who plays and loves games like this.

    It is my favorite game of all time. I think it's highly unlikely that it will ever lose that title. It's not just my favorite -- if I were making a list of my top five, it's probably in slots 1 through 3 at least. I cannot overstate just how much I love this game.

    So, being able to be part of a group of people who all dove into this love of mine together is a genuine, bona fide delight for me. Every time I run an event on Tildes, I'm a little worried nobody's going to participate. I'm glad that I was so very wrong in this case! I obviously enjoyed replaying The Last Express for the nth time, of course, but I really, REALLY loved reading everyone's comments on it.

    Every time the Insert Cartridge topic had new comments, I was thrilled. I'm going to feel the exact same way (probably even moreso) about this topic. I can't get enough of hearing about other people's perspectives on it -- the good and the bad. As much as I love the game, I promise I won't be offended if anyone hates it!

    As I was replaying the game, I was playing with the question: why does this game mean so much to me?

    I came up with three different reasons.

    1. It was truly groundbreaking.

    I had never played a game like this before. It feels weird to say this about a game so firmly set in the past, but this game felt so far ahead of other games in creating a living, breathing digital "world". Its environment felt real. Its characters felt real. Its verisimilitude was unmatched.

    It's impossible, however, to recapture how all of that felt back in 1997. I cannot stress to you enough how innovative, interesting, and ambitious this game felt. This was back when "multimedia" was still a buzzword and people were talking about how interactive audio-visual entertainment was the future. This game felt like a completely novel experience; something that had happened for the first time in humanity. I was playing the future.

    From a 2025 perspective, all of the above sounds a lot more quaint, but I do have to say that I am impressed at how some of their decisions from back then still hold up today. The rotoscoping on the characters still looks good. Going with slideshows instead of full animation stops the game from having awkward animations or physical acting. Once you get used to it, it feels quite natural and lets the game's quality voice acting shine through. The voice actors really do carry the scenes.

    Also, the "illusion" of the train traveling is still convincing. Outside of a few cutscenes, you never really see the train in motion. Instead, you get the sound of the train moving, the conductor calling out the next station, the sound of the brakes as the train stops, characters mentioning upcoming destinations, etc. It's all fairly simple smoke and mirrors, but it still works quite well.

    1. I was "reading up."

    In teaching, we talk about how kids like to "read up," meaning they like to read stories about characters that are older than them. I'm sure there's some developmental or psychological reason for this that I've long forgotten, but I don't think it necessarily has to be too complicated: I simply think it's exciting for kids to step into an older role, and fiction is a safe way for them to do that.

    The Last Express was a way for me to "read up." I was, of course, a kid, but in the game I was as an important adult on an important transport at an important time in history doing important things alongside lots of other important adults. I felt SO grown up and SO mature. It was utterly enthralling.

    This game made me feel older than I actually was. Not a lot of other games did that.

    1. It had the first queer representation I can remember.

    I don't remember exactly how old I was when I clued into Rebecca and Sophie's relationship. It definitely wasn't my first playthrough, probably not in my first several.

    But I remember one time I was reading Rebecca's journal and the word "seductress" in reference to Sophie jumped out at me. I remember being taken aback. Up to that point I'd assumed they were just gal pals, traveling together. After all, they did gossip about guys, and that felt to me like a very gal pal thing to do.

    But I couldn't wrap my head around "seductress" and how that fit in. It was too intimate, too direct to be anything other than an admission of romantic, possibly lustful longing.

    I played this game before I knew I was gay. Before I really understood what being queer meant. Growing up in the strictly religious and extremely homophobic environment I was in, I wasn't given the models or language to understand myself or people like me.

    But I loved the characters in this game. Each and every one. They all felt real to me. And that included Rebecca and Sophie.

    There's an article about the game that I love called The Women in Compartment E. It captures so much of what I felt about this game:

    As young and inexperienced as I was, it took me a long time to realize they were gay. But The Last Express is so well written and nuanced in its characterizations that I understood far more about Rebecca and Sophie's relationships than I had words to express. I knew their friendship went deeper than most, and was complicated by jealousy and fear. But I did not quite know reasons.

    I was barely fourteen when the game came out, and homosexuality was not yet a real concept for me. It was something you did not want to be, of course, if only because there was always some asshole who would try to tell everyone you were gay, or trick you into admitting you were. So then you would exasperatedly protest that no, you were not gay and no, you were not HIV positive. Beyond that, I did not particularly want to acknowledge the matter. In the Inquisitorial sexual politics of middle school, it was dangerous to contemplate heresies.

    So I had a hard time identifying the lesbian couple in The Last Express, because they seemed so normal.

    Even after sitting with that "seductress" word, it still took a long time, far too long, for them to click with me. It wasn't that I went "oh, they're queer!" and that was that. It was more that I felt drawn to them in a way that I couldn't explain. The two of them are essentially inconsequential to Cath's story in The Last Express, but on every replay I would still check in on them, eavesdrop on them, read their journals.

    It sounds creepy when I say it like that, but for me it was a tender, thoughtful thing. I was examining the boundary of something I didn't understand. They were inside of it, and I was, I don't know, at the perimeter maybe? I was looking in or looking around or looking out -- I wasn't sure -- all the time wondering where exactly I stood and if I would ever know.

    It would take me a long time for the boundary to become clear and for me to see that I was inexplicably drawn to them because, well, they were like me. (Er, well, Rebecca with her reserved, plaintive yearning was like me. Sophie, with her self-assuredness, was definitely NOT like me.)

    There might have been other queer representation that I witnessed as a kid that escaped me. Although, again, given the circumstances of my upbringing, this is highly unlikely (or, if I did get representation, it was explicitly negative). This game is the first of any media that I can remember having queer characters. I think it's especially valuable because I think it was (and remains) so thoughtfully done.

    As much as I emphasized point 3 above, I don’t want to give the wrong impression. It’s not simply “queer characters + queer me = fulfilling experience.” Instead, it’s more that the queer characters and their intersection with me is indicative of the care with which the game was made. I love the WHOLE game, not just Rebecca and Sophie’s story. I was able to have such a rich connection only because the game itself has such depth and resonance.

    So, point 3 is less about queerness specifically and more about the world that queerness lives in.

    I said it earlier, but this is my favorite game of all time. For me, the game itself is inseparable from my own connection to and experiences playing it over and over again. @vili said it really well here:

    Nowadays, a game often contains 100 hours of content, of which you play 50. Back in the day, games contained 2 hours of content, of which you also played 50.

    I guess if there were a 4th item to my list, it would be that this wasn't just a game at the time, it was the game.

    I'm now drowning in titles. I can choose from literally thousands of games I own. But back then, this was one of maybe three or four games I got in a whole year. I didn't play the game and move on. I lived and breathed this game, all the time. It's a lot easier for a star to shine when it's the only one in the sky.

    I love The Last Express. I don't think I'll ever not love it. It was formative for me. I remain completely connected to it. Replaying the game felt like revisiting old friends. The train felt like a childhood home for me.

    I don't want to get too sentimental, but it's genuinely heartwarming to me that so many people in a community I love took the time to try out this little game that I love. It's hard to put what I'm feeling about it into words, so I'll just say that it feels like my heart is getting a warm hug from y'all.

    Thank you for that. Genuinely.

    Okay, with all that seriousness out of the way, now it's time for: what was my playthrough like from modern eyes?

    I jotted down some bullet points in my notes app:

    • Unintentional comedy: popping in and out of cars repeatedly. The dinner diners were probably like "why the hell has the American come and gone six times in ten minutes?"

    • Love ladies in big hats. Bring back big hats for ladies.

    • You hear Anna practicing her violin at THREE IN THE MORNING, and Mme. Boutarel complains about the dog instead of that?

    • Lots of cross chatter in the game, to the point that some voice lines get lost. Annoying from a game-minded perspective, but absolutely perfect from a real-world eavesdropping perspective.

    • The game is really good about responding to player actions which makes it feel more real (e.g. the conductor searching for his passenger list after you steal it)

    • Weird plot point 1: Vesna tries to kill Anna, and then... nothing happens between them? They just go back to sleeping in adjacent compartments.

    • Weird plot point 2: Tatiana warns you about a bomb, and then you just... go to sleep?

    • Weird plot point 3: Max getting out at the end. Great from a "the animal doesn't die" perspective. Feels hokey from an "actually taking the game-world seriously" perspective.

    • Forgot that the ending is a downer but in a really well-executed way. Feels like the game really emphasizes the idea that people are loyal to their countries (and what those countries represent), so Wolff chooses Austria over Cath, while Cath remains the same disconnected American abroad that he was at the beginning of the story.

    • The FUCKING End Credits. Get me every time. Chills. Watching the map change over the years is so much more resonant because of the game you just played and the people you just spent your time with.

    7 votes

  8. Comment on What are your favorite casual puzzle games? in ~games

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Allow me to evangelize RetroDECK. It turns your Steam Deck into the emulation device of your dreams in the simplest, easiest way possible.1 You install the flatpak from the Discover store in...
    • Exemplary

    Allow me to evangelize RetroDECK.

    It turns your Steam Deck into the emulation device of your dreams in the simplest, easiest way possible.1

    You install the flatpak from the Discover store in desktop mode, run the configurator once, drop BIOSes and ROMs in the correct folders, and, baby, you got a retro gaming stew going.

    RetroDECK sets up an ES-DE frontend for all of your systems where you can browse your games and boot into them. It automatically configures all the emulators for you. It automatically sets up controller profiles for you. It sets up universal hotkeys for emulator actions like save states. It can log you into RetroAchievements for all supported systems automatically. It even sets up a radial menu with a bunch of deeper emulation options for you (like rewinding and whatnot). I cannot stress how easy it is.

    I have played hundreds of hours of retro games, all the way from the Colecovision to the PlayStation 2, with minimal setup and maximal "it just works."

    Now, I'll qualify this: RetroDECK is only as good as the emulators it includes. It's not going to work any magic tricks for systems with fussy or incomplete emulators.

    I personally haven't emulated any Switch games on my Steam Deck, so I can't say how well it works, though plenty of other people have been able to do it decently well. It requires a bit more setup than most though, because you have to do some extra steps for the firmware or encryption or something (not entirely sure since I haven't done it myself).

    Additionally, Switch emulation is technically possible through RetroDECK but not ideal. Yuzu got removed from it after Yuzu got, you know, removed from everywhere. It currently includes Ryujinx, but that is considered legacy after development stopped and will be removed from RetroDECK soon. They plan on adding Ryubing, but that hasn't happened yet. So, if you want it exclusively for Switch games, RetroDECK probably isn't the right solution at the moment, but if you're wanting other systems (and it sounds like you do!) then I cannot recommend it enough! I utterly adore it.

    1. But wait, isn't that what EmuDeck does?

    Well, yes, but also no.

    EmuDeck is a script that sets up a bunch of different individual emulators. Each one has its own little life. They update separately. I find this to be a messy way of doing things.

    RetroDECK is a single flatpak that contains all the emulators you want. They all live together under one roof. They update together. I find this to be a very clean way of doing things.

    7 votes

  9. Comment on US FBI readies new war on trans people in ~lgbt

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Wow, that really was years ago! Doesn’t feel like it. In case anyone’s interested, there’s also a part 2 to that conversation. It’s super cool that we’ve both now been here long enough to refer...

    Wow, that really was years ago! Doesn’t feel like it. In case anyone’s interested, there’s also a part 2 to that conversation.

    It’s super cool that we’ve both now been here long enough to refer back to things that happened so long ago. Also it’s cool that Tildes has been able to persist and be a nice place to be that whole time as well.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on US FBI readies new war on trans people in ~lgbt

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Another serve! Love the shirt (of course) and the cute story. My political platform is that all trans allies should get free food.

    Another serve!

    Love the shirt (of course) and the cute story. My political platform is that all trans allies should get free food.

    6 votes

  11. Comment on What are your favorite casual puzzle games? in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I've been playing this through RetroArch (using the melonDS core) on my phone. It's great, and works very nicely with a touchscreen.

    I've been playing this through RetroArch (using the melonDS core) on my phone. It's great, and works very nicely with a touchscreen.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on How a secret recording of a gender identity lecture upended Texas A&M in ~lgbt

    kfwyre
    Link

    As the discussion began, one student angled a phone in her lap, pressed record on a video and then raised her hand.

    “I just have a question, because I’m not entirely sure this is legal to be teaching,” said the student, who went on to accuse the professor of violating President Donald Trump’s executive order, which recognizes only two biological sexes.

    McCoul told the student she disagreed with her assessment, and after a short back-and-forth, captured on video, McCoul asked the student to leave.

    But earlier this month, the recording of the confrontation — and a second one between the student and Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III, who first defended McCoul — was shared on social media by a GOP state representative, igniting a firestorm. Republicans quickly seized on the exchange to question the teaching of gender identity at a public university and demanded firings. Within days, Welsh terminated McCoul and demoted College of Arts and Sciences’ Dean Mark Zoran and the head of the English department, Emily Johansen — decisions that intensified scrutiny and ultimately culminated in his own resignation on Thursday afternoon.

    22 votes

  14. Comment on US FBI readies new war on trans people in ~lgbt

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Seconded. There are so many people that love and support you. I know that’s very hard to see right now, but know that we’re here.

    Seconded.

    There are so many people that love and support you. I know that’s very hard to see right now, but know that we’re here.

    20 votes

  15. Comment on Fat Bear Week is here early, and the bears are fat and playful in ~enviro

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    There’s nothing stopping us from joining the celebration in solidarity! Also, maybe Lazy Bear Week is more your speed?

    There’s nothing stopping us from joining the celebration in solidarity!

    Also, maybe Lazy Bear Week is more your speed?

    8 votes

  16. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Last Express in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    The Remove Cartridge topic runs through the end of the month (and even past it, technically speaking), so don’t feel like you need to rush your playthrough. Hint Cath clearly doesn’t have enough...

    The Remove Cartridge topic runs through the end of the month (and even past it, technically speaking), so don’t feel like you need to rush your playthrough.

    Hint

    Cath clearly doesn’t have enough money for Schmidt, but maybe someone else on the train does? Who strikes you as particularly wealthy?

    2 votes

  17. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Last Express in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    The OG version is also on sale at GOG if anyone prefers that. Also, if anyone’s wanting to use ScummVM, you can pull the necessary files from the GOG install (not sure if you can also get them...

    The OG version is also on sale at GOG if anyone prefers that.

    Also, if anyone’s wanting to use ScummVM, you can pull the necessary files from the GOG install (not sure if you can also get them from the Gold Edition). That’s how I played it (and it worked great), just make sure you’re grabbing one of the daily ScummVM builds because it’s not yet supported in the stable release.

    4 votes

  18. Comment on What "one-hit wonder" do you think has a discography worth exploring? in ~music

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Robyn’s Body Talk album is pop perfection.

    Robyn’s Body Talk album is pop perfection.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of September 14 in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link
    Fanatical Build Your Own Tower Defense Bundle It starts at $1.65 USD each for 3 games and goes slightly down if you get more. My recommended bundle: Defense Grid 2 is excellent and polished. When...

    Fanatical Build Your Own Tower Defense Bundle

    It starts at $1.65 USD each for 3 games and goes slightly down if you get more.

    My recommended bundle:

    Defense Grid 2 is excellent and polished. When I get the itch for tower defense, I prefer Defense Grid’s way of doing it. Also, counter to its usually mouse-based genre, DG2 plays fantastically well with a controller. This is a perfect Steam Deck game.

    I’ve admittedly only played half of the GemCraft Bundle in the form of Chasing Shadows, but it’s good enough that even if Frostborn Wrath is terrible (unlikely), it’s still worth it. The game’s got depth and is very grindy in a good way, with a metaprogression system that made it fun to return to previous levels to try to beat old scores.

    Wall World is really testing the tensile strength of the “tower defense” labeling for this bundle. I wouldn’t class it as TD at all, to the point that someone wanting to play a TD game who picks up this will be sorely disappointed. Instead, it’s a mining game where you gather resources to return to your ship, which you then use to fight off enemies, before moving further along the titular wall to mine once again. It gets pretty repetitive, but I enjoyed my time with it nonetheless. Also, this is another perfect Steam Deck game.

    You can get all three (technically four) of the above games for less than $5, which I genuinely think is a steal.

    2 votes

  20. Comment on One of Valve’s forty majillion secret hardware projects is called the Steam Frame, probably in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Bumping this: I booted up SteamVR today, and it said I needed to update my hardware. While the update was installing on my Index, the screen said something about a "wireless adapter." I wish I'd...

    Bumping this:

    I booted up SteamVR today, and it said I needed to update my hardware. While the update was installing on my Index, the screen said something about a "wireless adapter." I wish I'd thought to screenshot it at the time so I don't sound like some random person on the internet spreading rumors.

    I can't find a changelog or anything that mentions this (if anyone can, please link it), and it's possible it could simply be support for something like the nofio rather than hinting at a new wireless headset from Valve, but I let myself get excited anyway.

    Also, please hold me to my words: I do NOT need to buy a new headset when I already have a perfectly working Index that meets my needs. Don't let me do it. Not even if it's really cool and affordable. I don't need it. Not even if it's amazing and portable and has inside-out tracking and doesn't need base stations and would be so much more convenient than being tethered to my computer and would look so good because of its higher resolution.

    Don't let me do it. Hold me to this please. I'm begging y'all.

    7 votes