creek'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 What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
creek LinkI've been playing FFVII: Remake (the Steam version). I've had a very confusing up-and-down experience with it so far. TL;DR: there's a really solid and enjoyable combat system at the core of this...I've been playing FFVII: Remake (the Steam version). I've had a very confusing up-and-down experience with it so far. TL;DR: there's a really solid and enjoyable combat system at the core of this game, but it feels like many encounters are designed to make interacting with that system as tedious and frustrating as possible.
I really enjoyed the beginning several chapters of the game. The combat system is a clever blend of action and turn-based combat. And as a modern "remake," it really improves how the different characters' personalities come through with proper voice acting, being able to see characters' faces, etc. I feel a lot more attached to Aerith and Barrett in particular compared to the original. I like that Midgar is a lot more fleshed out. Sure, it gets a bit padded with fetch quests at times, but I prefer that to the original, where Midgar felt less like a massive city and more like a series of smudgy textures.
My experience was overall very positive up through the Airbuster fight. After that, it took a surprising turn downhill. That's about the point where the game starts introducing encounters that feel almost deliberately designed to be tedious. There's the Rude fight, where if you get close to him, he just does an unblockable, undodgeable grab and takes control away from your character for several seconds while he does his move. If you keep your distance, he chases after you and does a leaping attack to close the distance, or fires a homing sleep attack (again, taking control away from you) that forces you to drop everything and kite if you want to avoid it. So most of this fight was spent running Aerith in circles around the arena.
Then, the hell house fight -- I could spend a lot of time complaining about this one, but I see there's already plenty of discussion online covering what sucks about this encounter. As a side note, if the game let you spend 1 ATB to change a materia slot out, that alone would resolve probably 90% of my gripes about this specific fight (the last 10% being the god mode shield being another tedious mechanic to interact with).
Past that, several more boss encounters where the game interrupts the flow of combat so the boss can have a cutscene and reset their stagger bar, or where the encounter mechanics are designed so you can only use one specific character doing one specific type of move to move forward, etc. I don't think it's at all necessary for providing a challenge. Behemoth-0 was an enjoyable fight that punishes you for button mashing without thought, but still let you play the game without putting tons of mechanics in the way.
Apologies that this become a rant. It's just a bummer because I started off really loving the game. But I'm now at the end of chapter 14 and that feeling has completely shifted to not being sure if I even want to play the rest of the games in the remake series if they keep the encounter design the same.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
creek Link ParentThis reflects my exact feelings on the game. It has such a nice art style that I really want to love the game. I think the one thing that would improve my enjoyment the most would be if the...This reflects my exact feelings on the game. It has such a nice art style that I really want to love the game. I think the one thing that would improve my enjoyment the most would be if the different "automation" buildings you can build actually automated things more. By the end, every time I went on a run, I would have to deal with multiple corpses, vomit everywhere, etc. even though I had built the morgue, undertaker, janitor closet, etc. And shovel poop from the outhouses to poop storage. Just never reached a point where I didn't have to do the tedious manual work anymore, and because I had more cultists, the amount of work was always increasing.
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Comment on Let's add (and rearrange?) some groups + a few notes about other short-term plans in ~tildes.official
creek (edited )Link ParentStrongly agree with this -- using ~sports as an example, there's plenty of potential news/discussion posts that would fit perfectly in a subgroup but feel too sport-specific to go in a general...Strongly agree with this -- using ~sports as an example, there's plenty of potential news/discussion posts that would fit perfectly in a subgroup but feel too sport-specific to go in a general topic like that, so they just don't get posted at all. Per-game threads for NFL or NBA games, for example, would be totally appropriate in their respective groups, but way too spammy for a general sports group. Same goes for questions pertaining to specific hobbies, communities, etc.
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Comment on Thoughts on Final Fantasy 16 in ~games
creek Link ParentOut of curiosity, how do you find the combat compares to FFXV? I don't mind the ARPG direction of the series, but FFXV combat felt a bit simplistic to me, like the game was doing all the "playing"...Out of curiosity, how do you find the combat compares to FFXV? I don't mind the ARPG direction of the series, but FFXV combat felt a bit simplistic to me, like the game was doing all the "playing" for me. I unfortunately can't try out the demo since I don't have a PS5 and will need to wait until it's ported to PC.
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Comment on Intermediate turn based strategy games in ~games
creek LinkValkyria Chronicles is fun and not too difficult unless you're trying to optimize for winning in as few turns as possible. I think the first one and the fourth one are available on Steam.Valkyria Chronicles is fun and not too difficult unless you're trying to optimize for winning in as few turns as possible. I think the first one and the fourth one are available on Steam.
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Comment on Learning Swift - Best suggestions in ~tech
creek LinkNot specific to Swift, but learning programming in general. I would recommend being picky about your learning resources. Shop around a lot. There are tons of resources out there, but that includes...Not specific to Swift, but learning programming in general. I would recommend being picky about your learning resources. Shop around a lot. There are tons of resources out there, but that includes tons of poor quality contact that teaches just syntax rather than concepts.
Some universities have free online offerings of their 101 type classes. Stanford has an excellent one called Code In Place (taught in Python). I don't know if something like that exists for Swift, though.
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Comment on Why doesn't Tildes display a user's social score or karma on their profile page? in ~tildes
creek LinkTracking some kind of "score" invariably leads users to optimizing for increasing said score, which leads to posts & comments catering to the lowest common denominator. It's arguably why on...Tracking some kind of "score" invariably leads users to optimizing for increasing said score, which leads to posts & comments catering to the lowest common denominator. It's arguably why on reddit, subreddits get worse and worse over time as they grow in size.
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Comment on Keyboard thread in ~hobbies
creek Link ParentIt's not too bad. The significantly different layout seems to trigger a shift in muscle memory. The thing I mostly mess up is mixing up hitting escape & caps lock (I swapped them on my ortho since...It's not too bad. The significantly different layout seems to trigger a shift in muscle memory. The thing I mostly mess up is mixing up hitting escape & caps lock (I swapped them on my ortho since I use esc way more than caps lock, but the latter is more accessible). But that has nothing to do with ortho and just my personal customization.
I also switched to using the Colemak layout a few months ago -- now that has completely destroyed my ability to use a QWERTY keyboard. I just fully revert to typing with two fingers while I stare at the keys.
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Comment on Keyboard thread in ~hobbies
creek LinkI've been using the Moonlander for the past few years, like a number of others here. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I had the Kinesis Advantage 2 before that, so adjusting to ortholinear and...I've been using the Moonlander for the past few years, like a number of others here. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I had the Kinesis Advantage 2 before that, so adjusting to ortholinear and the thumb clusters wasn't very difficult. Had to swap out the switches with Zeal Zilent V2s out of consideration for coworkers.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it. There are some things I don't love -- mainly the tenting range is limited due to the fact that the thumb clusters serve as a tenting leg (so increasing the tenting angle pushes the thumb keys further away).
I vaguely have my eye on the Dygma Defy but can't really justify dropping that much money on another keyboard when I'm content with the current one.
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Comment on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom discussion in ~games
creek Link ParentThat's a relief to hear! I'm still generally finding terrain exploration to be natural and satisfying as it was in BotW. Glad to hear that I don't need to expect a lot of "you have to use Ascend...I feel as though your pinecone technique seems far more true to the experience I've had with the game since progressing a little further. See a great height? Here's a ton of different ways you can approach it, have fun.
That's a relief to hear! I'm still generally finding terrain exploration to be natural and satisfying as it was in BotW. Glad to hear that I don't need to expect a lot of "you have to use Ascend here and nothing else" moments.
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Comment on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom discussion in ~games
creek LinkI'm fairly early in the game still, but I'm finding that I really dislike the addition of the Ascend ability. It doesn't feel like it rewards creativity, as it just pushes you to look for ceilings...I'm fairly early in the game still, but I'm finding that I really dislike the addition of the Ascend ability. It doesn't feel like it rewards creativity, as it just pushes you to look for ceilings that seem specifically designed for the ability to be used.
I'm at the bit where you're trying to reach the sky island area above Hebra, and there's a big tower that looks way too long to climb. I personally felt like I came up with a clever way to ascend (build a fire + toss a pinecone + use the glider on the updraft to get height, then climb the rest of the way). But I was met with an unclimbable overhang bit at the top. So I fell down and ended up just using Ascend instead, which felt significantly less satisfying.
Climbing in BotW & TotK feels rewarding to me since it's like solving a puzzle (mainly finding a route that lets you recover stamina partway through). Ascend feels like... find the spot where you're supposed to use Ascend, and then use it.
Curious if anyone else feels that way? Overall still really enjoying everything else about the game -- seems like a better BotW in just about every aspect.
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Comment on Does anyone else listen to any D&D podcasts? in ~games.tabletop
creek Link ParentThey do a fantastic job of pacing, especially since they do a lot of editing to cut out a lot of uninteresting bits (like looking up rules/details, tallying rolls, etc.). I enjoyed the bits of...They do a fantastic job of pacing, especially since they do a lot of editing to cut out a lot of uninteresting bits (like looking up rules/details, tallying rolls, etc.). I enjoyed the bits of Critical Role I've watched but that's my biggest struggle with them, as combat can become a slog.
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Comment on DreamBerd, the perfect programming language in ~comp
creek LinkThis is four dimensional coding.Specify a negative lifetime to make a variable exist before its creation, and disappear after its creation.
This is four dimensional coding.
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Comment on Anybody here who remembers the old days (pre-Playoff) /r/CFB? in ~sports.american_football
creek Link ParentOh nice! I went to a home game for Stanford where Kodi Whitfield made an absurd catch against UCLA and wanted to find it online...Oh nice! I went to a home game for Stanford where Kodi Whitfield made an absurd catch against UCLA and wanted to find it online (https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/1ot4c3/ridiculous_1handed_catch_by_kodi_whitfield_for/). Now that I found it, I realize that was 2013. But in any case, someone there linked to /r/cfb and I decided to join to soak in all the football discussion I didn't know existed.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
creek Link ParentIt's super enjoyable to work with! I'm not sure if you're already familiar with other entity-component-system engines, but it is what Bevy uses for describing what things are in your game and how...It's super enjoyable to work with! I'm not sure if you're already familiar with other entity-component-system engines, but it is what Bevy uses for describing what things are in your game and how they behave & interact with one another. In Bevy, entities are simple IDs, components are structs, and systems are functions.
My favorite thing about it is how they implemented dependency injection. It's incredibly clean to write functions taking arbitrary input which needs to be passed to them by the engine -- you just include a
Queryparameter describing what combinations of components you're interested in looking at, and Bevy behind the scenes gives you all the entities satisfying the query.It is a very young project, so it won't be nearly as feature rich as something like Unity, but for personal projects I think it's perfect.
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Comment on Introductions | June 2023, part 1 in ~talk
creek Link ParentAdding on a bit -- I used to work for Google, and now work for a scale-up. In my experience, large, established companies have a lot of structure in place to keep things running smoothly, but your...Adding on a bit -- I used to work for Google, and now work for a scale-up. In my experience, large, established companies have a lot of structure in place to keep things running smoothly, but your areas of focus are generally limited to a piece of a piece of a product/service. At at small company, you're much more likely to jump around touching a lot of different pieces. I'm a Cloud backend developer, but have had to dive into app code, embedded code, and mess around with code bases "owned" by other teams.
Whether that's a pro or a con depends on if you enjoy having to learn new things quickly, vs. spending more time diving deep. I lean more towards the latter, so a proper tiny startup is probably not for me, but a small scale-up has a nice blend of both.
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Comment on Anybody here who remembers the old days (pre-Playoff) /r/CFB? in ~sports.american_football
creek LinkYes! /r/cfb was actually the reason I joined reddit back in 2012. I remember it being one of the best maintained & moderated subs around. Huge breath of fresh air compared to using ESPN et al to...Yes! /r/cfb was actually the reason I joined reddit back in 2012. I remember it being one of the best maintained & moderated subs around. Huge breath of fresh air compared to using ESPN et al to follow other teams.
It went the way so many subs do when they get big enough: low effort jokes & takes in a race to the bottom for upvotes.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
creek LinkI'm learning Rust and some basic game development via the Bevy engine, by writing a little sports game (trying to make Blitzball from FFX, but with improved mechanics and smarter AI). Mostly doing...I'm learning Rust and some basic game development via the Bevy engine, by writing a little sports game (trying to make Blitzball from FFX, but with improved mechanics and smarter AI).
Mostly doing this because in my actual job as a backend Cloud developer, I don't get to spend much time programming "fun" stuff. And I'm a bit worried I'm losing some skills over time as a result.
I had a friend visiting me over the weekend, but unexpected rain/flooding cancelled a lot of what we had planned... so we ended up playing coop Baldur's Gate 3 all weekend instead. I honestly cannot remember the last time I've had so much fun with a game. He's planning on buying the game on Mac when it's fully released so we can continue our campaign. In the meantime, I'm rolling a different class for my single player run through and already thinking about the next playthrough with yet another class.