Trobador's recent activity
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Comment on Hytale is saved! in ~games
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Comment on Hytale is saved! in ~games
Trobador Link ParentI don't disagree with Microsoft's practices being awful, but I don't know about rooting for Hypixel as a competitor if that's your worry... they're selling $45 ranks to kids for in-game...I don't disagree with Microsoft's practices being awful, but I don't know about rooting for Hypixel as a competitor if that's your worry... they're selling $45 ranks to kids for in-game advantages, alongside other micro-transactions. Minecraft servers don't get that big without being skinner boxes of some sort.
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Comment on Hytale is saved! in ~games
Trobador Link ParentHonestly, I'm less bewildered about that being a thing in Minecraft. I'm bewildered that they made Skyblock of all gamemodes into an MMO. Like, why?"Oh, yeah, it's like an MMO but in Minecraft. And you can do all the Minecraft building and stuff, but only on your island. No, it's not a mod, it's a server."
Honestly, I'm less bewildered about that being a thing in Minecraft. I'm bewildered that they made Skyblock of all gamemodes into an MMO. Like, why?
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Comment on Digiphile - Return of the immersive sim in ~games
Trobador Link ParentI had entirely forgotten the name, but BABBDI is an excellent comparison I was trying to remember as I wrote!I had entirely forgotten the name, but BABBDI is an excellent comparison I was trying to remember as I wrote!
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Comment on Request for info: Is "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" respectful of it's child characters? in ~anime
Trobador Link ParentYou've been reading some great stuff! Delicious in Dungeon and Chainsaw Man are some of my own favorites. I can relate a lot. This prompts me to talk about demographics but I know I'd seem like a...You've been reading some great stuff! Delicious in Dungeon and Chainsaw Man are some of my own favorites. I can relate a lot.
As a 30-something cis "straight" man it "makes sense" that I tended more towards shonen, but I'm enjoying pushing my boundaries towards "girly" genres like romance
This prompts me to talk about demographics but I know I'd seem like a pedantic fuck if I started explaining things you already know in length because of a conversational shortcut you took, so skip this if you already have had the spiel:
The shonen and shojo qualifiers are not quite genres: they refer to the target demographic of the work, usually based on the magazine they're published in. The five categories that exist are "kodomo" (small children), "shonen" (teenage boys), "shojo" (teenage girls), "seinen" (adult men) and "josei" (adult women).Knowing the intended demographic can tell you some things about what the work is like compared to others in the same genre; there is such a thing as shonen/seinen romance, for instance, and it's quite different from A Condition Called Love, and you'll be surprised about how some manga that seem girly like K-On! were actually published in seinen magazines, very purposefully.
That said, it's just that, arbitrary classifications. One-Punch Man was published as seinen while Chainsaw Man was published as shonen. That should tell you it doesn't always mean much. There's good stuff everywhere you'll look.
I'll try to give you some recs based on these. I'm purposefully mostly recommending fairly recent series from the last decade or so, in part because... well, I'm just 23 and wasn't that into manga when I was younger, so most of what I read is 10 to 15 years old at most, but also because they're more current topics which you'll be able to discuss with others more easily, and because some of them are publishing currently, so you can follow them weekly once you're caught up. It's a fun experience to be able to do so, when the series engages you and you're eager for the next chapter to come out. Some people hate it, but it's worth trying out!
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If you like One-Punch Man, the author, ONE, has various series under his belt with a similar sort of appeal. Currently publishing are Bug Ego, a very surreal series about some kids abusing bugs in reality for shenanigans, and Versus, an action-packed thematic crossover where a bunch of universes based on thematic tropes on the brink of apocalypse are mashed into one (fantasy heroes fighting cyberpunk augmented humans, futuristic military fighting against a demon army, and lots more).
His second most popular series is Mob Psycho 100, and it's the most like OPM: it's about a quiet kid who looks like a mob character but secretly has immense psychic powers. The difference is that whereas Saitama stays constant as a character, Mob Psycho is about Mob's growth as a person; but you still get a ton of incredible fights and great comedy. The slight caveat is that whereas OPM and the other series I've named were either remade or drawn by other artists, Mob Psycho is a web manga drawn by ONE, who's art is considerably more rough. Don't expect Murata's insane art here! -
If you like Chainsaw Man, you could give Fujimoto's other serialized work, Fire Punch, a try. It's a similarly gritty yet campy story about the revenge of an immortal guy against the person who killed his sister and set him on fire for eternity. I have not read Fire Punch myself, but it shares Chainsaw Man's inspiration from Western cinema, bold and fascinating character writing and being next to impossible to predict at every turn. I have however read the rest of Fujimoto's work, which is mainly a ton of incredible one-shots. Look Back and Goodbye Eri (my favorite) were made between CSM Part 1 and 2 and are their own books; the rest are included in the collections 17-21 and 22-26. They're great reads.
Though if you want something that's more straight action while similar to CSM's gritty style, there are a few within Shonen Jump ever since Jujutsu Kaisen blew up. That manga is in itself a good read; it's a shonen battle manga played quite straight, and it had people going insane with hype over its fights for pretty much its whole runtime. I'm personally more partial to Kagurabachi, a relatively recent battle shonen with tons of style and a unique blend of influences. (It's nothing like CSM, but if we're talking current Shonen Jump series, also check out Ichi the Witch, RuriDragon or Akane-banashi!) -
If you like Delicious in Dungeon... well, I'd direct you to read some of Ryoko Kui's woefully underappreciated one-shots, but if you want more fantasy series with fresh and well thought out world building like it, there's a few. Witch Hat Atelier is a fantastic manga with a very Harry Potter-esque premise, about a young girl who's suddenly brought into mage society in a world where the nature of magic is kept hidden from common people. Aside from its great narrative, the manga is most known for its world building, particularly its awesome magic system, and for its incredibly original use of paneling. I'm also a fan of its very diverse character designs, another trait it shares with Delicious in Dungeon. A couple similar series would be Magus of the Library and The Ancient Magus' Bride (though the latter has an creepy initial premise ; it's not as iffy when you get into it though).
A hat trick of less common fantasy recommendations with great worldbuilding:
Heterogenia Linguistico is about a linguist who travels through the 'land of the monsters' to learn about the lives, culture and languages of the various fantasy races living there, including lizardmen, minotaurs, harpies and more. It's slow-paced, well thought out and fascinating if you like this sort of stuff.
The Dragon, the Hero and the Courier is an odd little fantasy comedy that follows a courier in a world that mixes subverted fantasy LitRPG-esque tropes with the author's obsession for medieval history. It's pure fun that never takes itself immensely seriously except when it comes to delivering impressively detailed worldbuilding around concepts you wouldn't expect.
A fun one I've been following is the annoyingly long-titled Every Adventure Needs Weapons!: The Meticulous Rudy's Blacksmith Life, which is about a young blacksmith making weapons for adventurers in order to solve their problems. It's a cute, light series that doesn't cheap out on having cool fantasy concepts and super cool designs for its characters, for Rudy's weapons and even for the monsters. Just 17 chapters for far, so it's not hard to get into!
There's so many more fantasy series that are worth reading and I could never think of them all. I left them out because they're not as similar to Delicious in Dungeon in vibe, but you would probably get Frieren as a recommendation, or a classic like Full Metal Alchemist. They're incredible too. -
If you like Death Note and Spy X Family, there's a manga with a similar premise, but in a romance comedy direction. Kaguya-sama: Love is War is about a highly privileged school's student council, where the two leads like each other but are too prideful to confess to one another, so they try to get the other to do so through absurdly disproportionate Death Note-esque mind game battles. It starts as just a very entertaining comedy, but quickly begins to incorporate excellent character writing. This was actually the series that got me hooked on manga when it was still publishing!
Also down to share more what I enjoyed (and what I didn't) about those I've read, if you want to hear it
I'd be glad to. I'd try to give you titles that are more specific to the aspects you like.
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Comment on Request for info: Is "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" respectful of it's child characters? in ~anime
Trobador Link ParentI've already responded, but actually, @Chemslayer, are you interested in manga recommendations that might be less gross and more suited to your tastes? I don't think it's good to just throw a...I've already responded, but actually, @Chemslayer, are you interested in manga recommendations that might be less gross and more suited to your tastes? I don't think it's good to just throw a bunch of titles at people unprompted, so I'm asking first ; I'd be sad if you were to read something that sours you on the whole medium before you get to read some of the great stuff. You could tell us what you like in terms of genre or theme, there's probably something you'll fall in love with.
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Comment on Digiphile - Return of the immersive sim in ~games
Trobador Link ParentI'm a bit into Peripeteia so I can give a few impressions... It's a very rough game. It's particularly buggy, and the combat is not great, mostly because the enemies lack in variety and have...I'm a bit into Peripeteia so I can give a few impressions...
It's a very rough game. It's particularly buggy, and the combat is not great, mostly because the enemies lack in variety and have abysmal AI. Its writing is alright, at least I think : the dialogue has a brand of humour that speaks to me, but understanding what's going on in this universe seems to depend a lot on knowledge of Eastern European history and politics that I don't have, so it's hard to follow. This isn't a game the majority will enjoy.
I do enjoy it, though, for one reason in particular, which is ironically what people tend to point out as its main flaw: its map design, which is directly inspired by BLAME! and other sci-fi animanga adjacent to it. Every map is a giant atmospheric cityscape that feels almost megastructural ; immense brutalist structures in disrepair with scarce few citizens keeping some of the lights on. They're all absolutely frick-off massive and extremely empty. Like, extremely extremely empty. Think of whatever open-world that's ever struck you as empty and it's at least thrice as empty. You can walk in these places for ages sometimes without encountering a single enemy. There's entire areas of the maps that are as detailed as the places you meet NPCs for objectives if not more, and yet are completely empty ; no enemies, no NPCs, often not even an item. All this is a purposeful design choice.
A lot of negative reviews cite this as the game's main flaw, and why I understand that, it's actually the reason I bought it after playing the demo : there's a very unique feeling I get from walking and climbing and getting lost through these huge, barren, paradoxically beautiful places. A bit like walking through the district you've lived in your whole life at an hour where no one else is there and everything is silent. It's oddly soothing. The climbing system lets you go basically anywhere you want with enough dexterity, so with full freedom of movement and few enemies to stop you from going where you want, it feels liberating in a way. I've not felt this from any other game before. If it resonates with you at all, then maybe you'd enjoy Peripeteia, I think.
Although I feel the obligation to note : the game's lead dev is apparently a massive bigot
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Comment on Do you recommend any website to host a free sub-forum in Portuguese? Not Reddit. in ~tech
Trobador Link ParentI know nothing about Zulip, but my understanding of Discourse is that its free offer is exclusively destined to communities around open source projects. Every Discourse forum I've visited was for...I know nothing about Zulip, but my understanding of Discourse is that its free offer is exclusively destined to communities around open source projects. Every Discourse forum I've visited was for some kind of software project. You could nonetheless self-host it, though you'd have to figure out how to run a server for free and affordably.
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Comment on Labubu movie in the works at Sony in ~movies
Trobador Link ParentBefore she was made into dolls, Labubu was a character in a series of... illustrations, I think? called The Monsters by Kasing Lung. She is, for what it's worth, an established character with a...Before she was made into dolls, Labubu was a character in a series of... illustrations, I think? called The Monsters by Kasing Lung. She is, for what it's worth, an established character with a personality.
Still a bit dumb, but maybe not as bad as the Trolls.
(Fun fact I'm learning now: she's based on a Nordic folklore monster, according to a Chinese source on Wikipedia. I have no clue which!)
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Comment on Valve announces new hardware: Steam Frame, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine in ~games
Trobador Link ParentI don't think I've been around to see a thread with this many comments in my time here! Seeing the (100 new) was a bit surprising.I don't think I've been around to see a thread with this many comments in my time here! Seeing the
(100 new)was a bit surprising. -
Comment on Best Bluetooth controller for sub $50? in ~games
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Comment on Best Bluetooth controller for sub $50? in ~games
Trobador Link ParentFunny, I've got the opposite problem with the Ultimate! Everything about this thing is great, but I play platform fighters on this thing and the analog triggers are not great for those; the...Funny, I've got the opposite problem with the Ultimate! Everything about this thing is great, but I play platform fighters on this thing and the analog triggers are not great for those; the digital ones are the one thing I miss from the Switch Pro I was using before. The Ultimate 2 has trigger latches that are supposed to make it go from analog to digital, but I don't know if it's exactly the same in practice or if they just make the triggers stop higher.
Great products overall. And great-looking, too.
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Comment on Best Bluetooth controller for sub $50? in ~games
Trobador LinkFrom my buyer's research and my experience with the Ultimate, 8BitDo controllers are pretty good. Great quality for their price, the right set of features and compatibility. 8BitDo sells the...From my buyer's research and my experience with the Ultimate, 8BitDo controllers are pretty good. Great quality for their price, the right set of features and compatibility.
8BitDo sells the Ultimate Mobile Gaming Controller for 45€ on Amazon and I'd expect it to have a similar level of quality to the regular Ultimate. (Some surface-level duckduckgoing led me to a convo on reddit saying Gamesir had better options for the price, like the G8, but that seems to be going for 90€ at the moment, so uh)
You could also consider one of 8BitDo's other controllers alongside one of the mobile clips they sell separately if you're okay with that form factor. The Pro 2 and SN30 are both quality controllers under 50€ which have mobile clips available. There seems to be one for the Ultimate series too, and I know the low-cost Ultimate 2C exists, but I'm not sure that has Android compatibility.
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Comment on Request for info: Is "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" respectful of it's child characters? in ~anime
Trobador Link ParentI'll be blunt: it commonly puts minors in suggestive situations that will probably bother you, and its basic premise is more or less soft fetish fulfillment. You won't find anything akin to a...I'll be blunt: it commonly puts minors in suggestive situations that will probably bother you, and its basic premise is more or less soft fetish fulfillment. You won't find anything akin to a controversy about that by googling because it's common for its genre and it's not likely to raise a fuss. I've only read small passages of it when scrolling /r/manga back when it was ongoing, but what I know of it is that the focus in the earlier parts is mostly on situations where Nagatoro bullies the MC in sadistic and often suggestive ways (it turns from sadism to teasing later on) and there's parts where she and the other female characters are half-dressed or naked with purposefully suggestive shots.
It's an shonen rom-com like there are many of. Nagatoro, as a character, is an example of some common archetypes and the manga targets people who likes those archetypes, whatever that means to the reader, rather than people looking for an interesting romantic comedy. It is probably not gonna be for you (nor was it for me), and I wouldn't recommend buying the bundle if you don't already know what you're going into.
I have a lot of thoughts on the philosophy behind this sort of work, that can be summarized as negative but comprehensive, and I spent about an hour just now building a rambly wall of text about it, but I've realized now that it's midnight and I'm too tired to know whether I'm saying anything coherent enough to not clumsily step on a landmine regarding a very inflammatory topic, so I've stashed it. Is there actually interest in having this conversation? I might come back with it later after a night's sleep and a re-re-reread if it's something people want to talk about.
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Comment on I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla in ~tech
Trobador LinkI'm having a hard time imagining what this 'AI window' is supposed to do. I think the existing quick access to LLMs from the sidebar and context menus makes sense even if I don't use it, but what...I'm having a hard time imagining what this 'AI window' is supposed to do. I think the existing quick access to LLMs from the sidebar and context menus makes sense even if I don't use it, but what more could you possibly want that would warrant... that? What does it do? Is it functionally a chatbot PWA? Does it... generate the web pages for you? I don't get it.
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Comment on Guillermo del Toro in the Video Club in ~movies
Trobador Link ParentI recall they had Hideo Kojima on this show once. It was interesting !I recall they had Hideo Kojima on this show once. It was interesting !
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Trobador LinkIn an effort to keep learning things regularly, now that I'm out of uni, I've been following a tutorial by Austin Henley on making a compiler from scratch in Python. I studied this in class last...In an effort to keep learning things regularly, now that I'm out of uni, I've been following a tutorial by Austin Henley on making a compiler from scratch in Python. I studied this in class last year, but it was very confusing! The theory part was poorly explained and was presented to us at a time where I was struggling with everything else in the curriculum, and the practical part had us writing a compiler in C, a language I dislike, using Lex and Bison, of which the workings confused me more than the actual code.
I worked on it monday and today in the afternoon and I've reached the part about the parser. So far, this has been a lot easier to understand than my classes, so I am glad. I've noticed the code presented in the tutorial seems like it'd be hard to maintain : the lexer gets tokens using a long line of elif blocks, and I'm wondering if I could do something better. Perhaps that's a great thing. Makes me want to code more things.
Something I'd like to do after I'm done is a big hat trick : write a compiler in C# that would put out Bash code. I've found I could solve a lot of my personal computing problems with some Bash scripts, but I don't like Bash and can never remember its specifics compared to general use languages. If I did a project like this, I'd be able to learn C#, learn more about Bash, learn more about compilers, have something cool to put on a portfolio and get a personalized tool for my daily use. Would be nice!
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Comment on Need pixel art software recommendations (it can be free or paid) in ~games
Trobador Link ParentYou're not wrong, there are people who do it, but from what I've seen, it's usually because they have a personalized workflow or because they want to use libre software and don't use Krita for...Case in point, I thought that painting with Gimp was a more common thing, so goes to show how ignorant I am in this area lol
You're not wrong, there are people who do it, but from what I've seen, it's usually because they have a personalized workflow or because they want to use libre software and don't use Krita for whatever reason.
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Comment on Need pixel art software recommendations (it can be free or paid) in ~games
Trobador LinkAseprite is the professional standard for game development pixel art; it's simple to use, very powerful and fun to look at. Godot and Aseprite both have addons to support the pipeline between the...Aseprite is the professional standard for game development pixel art; it's simple to use, very powerful and fun to look at. Godot and Aseprite both have addons to support the pipeline between the two. It's $20, but you can use it for free if you spend the time to compile it yourself. Pixelorama (itself made in Godot) and PixiEditor are also recent popular options.
I'm not much of an artist either - though I have used image editors a good bit for my purposes - but I will say, there's no reason why a lack of artistic skill should drive you away from GIMP or Photoshop specifically, or any other drawing software. The software you use won't make you better at art, aside from correcting some of your mistakes (i.e. brush stabilizers) and giving you different tools to play with.
Rather, different editors tend to be specialized towards different purposes. The ones I named are made for pixel art, Krita is made for painting, Clip Studio Paint for comics, Toon Boom for animation... GIMP is primarily made for general automated editing and not often used by artists, so I wouldn't recommend that!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Trobador Link ParentYou should try Sky as well! It's a near straight upgrade of Time/Darkness, with gameplay enhancements, more dungeons and five special episodes separate from the main story where you play as some...You should try Sky as well! It's a near straight upgrade of Time/Darkness, with gameplay enhancements, more dungeons and five special episodes separate from the main story where you play as some of the major NPCs and learn more about them.
It is quite rare to find a physical copy nowadays, but that shouldn't stop anyone.
Are they ? If so, bit more respectable ; I didn't see anything about this on the Hypixel fandom wiki but it could be wrong.