erithaea's recent activity
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Comment on The Game Awards 2025 nominations in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea Link ParentStardew also has a stamina mechanic, that's true, but in Stardew it's never an issue to the same extent as in MTaS, or at least it never was for me, what with weapons (iirc?) not consuming...Stardew also has a stamina mechanic, that's true, but in Stardew it's never an issue to the same extent as in MTaS, or at least it never was for me, what with weapons (iirc?) not consuming stamina, stardrops increasing your max stamina significantly, and the spa allowing you to rapidly regenerate stamina. I remember the "automatic passing out" mechanic if you stay out past a certain time to be a much bigger issue in Stardew, but so far I've never even come close to that time in MTaS. But like I said, I'm still close to the beginning of the game, so we'll have to see how it develops later on.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea Link ParentOh, I wasn't aware that there's been an announcement for the PC version. Do you have a source for that? (It's not that I don't believe you, I just want to see if there's any other new info on the...Oh, I wasn't aware that there's been an announcement for the PC version. Do you have a source for that? (It's not that I don't believe you, I just want to see if there's any other new info on the PC port.)
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea LinkI started playing My Time at Sandrock. Seems like a charming game so far. The stamina system makes it feel a little too much like a mobile game, but that's probably (hopefully) just because in the...I started playing My Time at Sandrock. Seems like a charming game so far. The stamina system makes it feel a little too much like a mobile game, but that's probably (hopefully) just because in the early game you don't really have the means to replenish your stamina yet. I'm expecting stamina to become a non-issue later on as your resources become more abundant. Apart from that, it feels a lot like 3D Stardew Valley, which I like. (I've never played My Time at Portia.)
I've also installed Morrowind again, thanks to @kaffo, who pointed me towards OpenMW (a full engine rewrite) and Tamriel Rebuilt (a massive map and asset expansion). However, every time I played Tamriel Rebuilt my eyes kept twitching at another name on the list of modlists... Starwind, a Star Wars total conversion for Morrowind set during the events of Knights of the Old Republic. So, as a massive Star Wars fan, and even bigger fan of KotOR, I installed it right away and have been enjoying it immensely so far. The voice acting is hit-or-miss, but it's a fan mod; I'm honestly surprised it has voice acting at all. Most NPCs in the base game don't even have voice acting.
Apart from that, the mechanics are translated surprisingly well into the Star Wars setting. Blasters are a bit unwieldy, but they Just Work™. I forgot how tricky Morrowind's early game can be; that certainly hasn't changed in Starwind. You'll absolutely get your butt whooped if you don't know what you're doing. Fortunately, my years of Morrowind experience have imparted me with the elusive and rare skill of... using my once-a-day racial ability during every encounter, then using the wait function to let 24h elapse and get the cooldown back that way. (My racial ability, in this case, is summoning a droid to aid in combat. That little guy absolutely decimates any early-game opponent.)
It's actually crazy how many races you can choose from at character selection (assuming you're using the recommended race mods on the Starwind modlist). You can even play as a Hutt or an HK droid. I went with Chiss, because the Chiss are my favourite Star Wars race (Thrawn may be partly to blame for that). I was a bit miffed that the Chiss faces are (as far as I can tell) just the Tamriel Rebuilt Dunmer faces with red eyes, in the same way that the Mandalorian faces are just the Tamriel Rebuilt Nord faces, but I got over it.
Anyway, I'm really enjoying it so far. If you're a Star Wars fan and you own Morrowind, I'd strongly recommend you give Starwind a try. It has a ridiculously high production quality for a fan mod.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea Link ParentIn regards to Shadows: if you've played the older Assassin's Creed games (especially AC2, 3, and Black Flag), how does it compare to them? The last AC game I played was Syndicate, so I've been...In regards to Shadows: if you've played the older Assassin's Creed games (especially AC2, 3, and Black Flag), how does it compare to them? The last AC game I played was Syndicate, so I've been curious to try one of the new generation of AC games. Since I both love Japan as a setting and Naoe, Shadows seems like the best call for me in that regard. But it's still a Ubisoft game, so the game would really have to be able to match up to the older AC games if I was going to get it (otherwise I'll just wait for Yotei to come to PC, haha).
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Comment on How has AI positively impacted your life? in ~tech
erithaea (edited )LinkI'm still experimenting and playing around with Stable Diffusion, but it's a very interesting and powerful piece of technology. I've tried using it for surreal photorealistic images in the past to...I'm still experimenting and playing around with Stable Diffusion, but it's a very interesting and powerful piece of technology. I've tried using it for surreal photorealistic images in the past to visualize some fantasy settings, with very mixed results (but that could also have just been a configuration/model issue). I've had more success with anime-style models. If you stare at the images for too long you'll start to notice some classic continuity issues in the image or other anatomical impossibilities, but it doesn't bother me. I consider it the Stable Diffusion equivalent of the suspension of disbelief.
Like I said, I need to play around with it a bit more, but once I'm more comfortable with it and my personal configuration of the parameters, I can see Stable Diffusion having a potentially significant impact on my writing motivation, as it'll allow me to quickly and painlessly generate pictures of my original characters and settings, which I can use as inspiration or as simple reference of a character's appearance and attitude. It's much easier than going back to my descriptions of a character's appearance and trying to remember how I visualized them in my head back then.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea Link ParentI didn't know about either Tamriel Rebuilt or OpenMW. I'm reinstalling Morrowind as we speak to try both of these out. Looking at Tamriel Rebuilt led me to Project Tamriel, which seems to be the...I didn't know about either Tamriel Rebuilt or OpenMW. I'm reinstalling Morrowind as we speak to try both of these out. Looking at Tamriel Rebuilt led me to Project Tamriel, which seems to be the "umbrella project" encompassing Tamriel Rebuilt along with a bunch of other mods that aim to add the other Tamriel provinces to Morrowind. Apparently they're all meant to be compatible with each other. Very exciting stuff. Morrowind is still my favourite TES, so I'm eager to travel outside of Vvardenfell and try some of these mods out. Thanks for the pointer!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea LinkDysmantle: Bought the game yesterday since I was looking for a "mindless" grinding game I could play while watching shows/streams on my other monitor. Enjoyed my first play session so much I...Dysmantle: Bought the game yesterday since I was looking for a "mindless" grinding game I could play while watching shows/streams on my other monitor. Enjoyed my first play session so much I bought all 3 DLCs right away! I'm really liking the game so far. It's like a survival crafting game without the (frequently annoying) survival aspects.
If there's one thing I don't like, it's that you can't use the scroll wheel to zoom in or out – which I would be okay with if this just weren't an option at all, but it is an option: there's a slider for the camera distance in the settings. Don't really understand why they wouldn't add a keybind for it, but maybe that's also just my MMO brain that's too used to "scroll wheel to zoom" talking. So far it hasn't really bothered me, I just find it odd.
Ghostwire Tokyo: Not sure how to feel about this game yet, but I also only played a little bit so far. The movement just feels somewhat clunky, and there's something I'm not understanding about the parry system. Once I figure it out, I'll give a more thorough review.
Immortals: Fenyx Rising: I broke my long-standing rule not to purchase Ubisoft games because a lot of people on the internet kept recommending it, saying that it's a copy (but a better copy) of Breath of the Wild. I've never played BotW, so I can't comment on that front. So far I'm enjoying the game – the combat in particular is more fun than I expected from a Ubisoft title – but that could change quite quickly, since it doesn't really seem like the core mechanics or core gameplay loop are going to be iterated on in any meaningful way, and it's essentially just an "open-world collectathon" kind of game. I don't always dislike those games, I just tend to get bored of them before I finish them. We'll see.
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Comment on People with a very good memory: does that make it harder to forgive? in ~talk
erithaea Link ParentI agree with this. When the subjective emotional response fades, objective reflection takes its place. I find that it actually tends to deepen my bond with the other person, because considering...I agree with this. When the subjective emotional response fades, objective reflection takes its place. I find that it actually tends to deepen my bond with the other person, because considering why they behaved the way they did allows me to understand them and where they're currently at in life much better.
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Comment on 10M people watched a YouTuber shim a lock; the lock company sued him. Bad idea. in ~tech
erithaea Link ParentAw, nooo! Caught in Providence was one of my favourite YouTube channels. I was wondering about the lack of uploads, but I thought they were just taking a break. :( If I remember correctly, one of...Aw, nooo! Caught in Providence was one of my favourite YouTube channels. I was wondering about the lack of uploads, but I thought they were just taking a break. :(
If I remember correctly, one of Judge Caprio's sons is also an attorney, so maybe there's a chance he'll take up his father's legacy, become a judge, and reboot the YouTube channel at some point. Who knows... :)
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea LinkSo a few weeks ago I posted about how I decided not to play Once Human once I found out you cannot rebind the interact action. I have since revisited that proclamation and wrote an AutoHotkey...So a few weeks ago I posted about how I decided not to play Once Human once I found out you cannot rebind the interact action. I have since revisited that proclamation and wrote an AutoHotkey script that rebinds E to F and F to E while playing the game. AutoHotkey scripts are risky in online games since anticheats like to false-positive flag them as botting software, but so far it's been fine.
If there's one thing I really don't like about the game so far though is that the game provides absolutely zero on-hit feedback (i.e. some kind of screen effect or animation that you're taking damage). I've had several deaths so far, and every single one of them without exception was because I just do not notice I'm taking damage at all. Sometimes because enemies are attacking me I'm not even aware of, but most of the time it's just being hit by bullets (which also doesn't have any kind of visual effect) or being affected by damage-over-time effects (which I think may have a tiny icon on the UI, but you're equally as unlikely to notice that icon as your healthbar going down). Anytime I'm in combat I basically just have to stare constantly at my healthbar, which is very annoying.
Other than that the gunplay and general exploration is pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, most of the EU servers (as far as I'm aware) are completely dominated by Russians who exclusively use cyrillic, so there's absolutely no social aspect at the moment. For this reason, common advice for EU players seems to be to actually play on NA servers, but I'd be worried about the ping in that case.
I'm not very far into it yet, so I don't know what the endgame experience is like. If anyone has any experience with this game, I'd love to hear it.
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Comment on Amazon Web Services outage impacts in ~tech
erithaea Link ParentAtlassian auth services are/were down, so I couldn't access Jira at work for the entire morning. It's working again now (or at least it worked for long enough to allow me to log in) but since...Atlassian auth services are/were down, so I couldn't access Jira at work for the entire morning. It's working again now (or at least it worked for long enough to allow me to log in) but since we're currently in a QA period where we have to create and review a lot of tickets, it was a pretty big showstopper.
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Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk
erithaea LinkFor me, there is only one clear answer: pouring all the money into funding two massively expensive and equally ambitious scientific projects: one revolves around live genetic engineering, with the...For me, there is only one clear answer: pouring all the money into funding two massively expensive and equally ambitious scientific projects: one revolves around live genetic engineering, with the end goal of creating functional wings on humans. The other is mechanical engineering, seeking to create a fully functional pair of human-sized mechanical wings for humans. Volunteers would be sought out as test subjects and paid out upwards of one million dollars if the experiment upon them fails. (If it succeeds, they get paid nothing as they will be able to fly, which is payment enough.)
I don't care which one of them succeeds, if any. I will also accept nothing short of perfect. No half-assed solutions, no wings that break down mid-flight or can't bear my weight. I will take to the skies and thereby skip (most of) my 1-hour commute to work. I will pay the necessary authorities to ensure I will be the sole proprietor of this new low-altitude personal wing airspace across the globe. If you want wings too, you'll need to buy a wing permit from me. (Including the volunteer(s) whose experiment succeeded. They should have read the small print.) The permit is going to be expensive, because I don't want too much traffic up there. It wouldn't be as much fun if anyone could fly.
As an aside: if either project unexpectedly succeeds before the money dries up, I may invest the rest of the money into genetic engineering to create catgirls (and catboys; I don't discriminate). If we can make wings, then a tail should be easy, right?
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea (edited )Link ParentThat's right, the naming is a bit confusing, but it does make sense if you go through the lore. Without spoiling anything, Eureka Orthos is actually the "real" Eureka. They named the field...That's right, the naming is a bit confusing, but it does make sense if you go through the lore. Without spoiling anything, Eureka Orthos is actually the "real" Eureka. They named the field exploration island Eureka as an homage to Eureka Orthos, because at that point they didn't yet know that a) Eureka Orthos actually existed (most thought it was just a legend) and b) that the island already had a name (the Isle of Val). There's a bit more to it (there's a more direct link between the two than that), but I'll leave that for you to explore!
I don't remember off the top of my head if that link is only explained in Eureka or also mentioned in Eureka Orthos though. I would definitely recommend giving Eureka (the field exploration) a try too though – it's still my favourite of the three and while I haven't set foot in there in a while, back when I did it in late Shadowbringers/early Endwalker (I don't entirely remember) it was still very well populated.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea (edited )LinkHow do I always miss this thread when it comes out? Oh well, here goes: Vivid/stasis: This is a classic 4-key rhythm game with pixel graphics. It's also my first rhythm game ever. It's incredibly...How do I always miss this thread when it comes out? Oh well, here goes:
Vivid/stasis: This is a classic 4-key rhythm game with pixel graphics. It's also my first rhythm game ever. It's incredibly addicting! Why didn't I try a 4-key rhythm game sooner? The game also has a visual novel type of story with some puzzle elements and boss songs in it, but I'm still really bad (I can only FC songs up to level ~4 right now), so I can't speak to how good the story is – the chapter 1 "boss" alone requires you to be a rhythm game god in order to beat it. I'm definitely planning to put in the time required to make that happen though. (Edit: As of Oct 15, I have beaten the chapter 1 song!)
God Eater 3: I'd heard of this series before, but before playing it I had no idea it was actually a Monster Hunter clone in a post-apocalyptic setting. It's pretty fun. Definitely doesn't have nearly the amount of depth in its weapons as Monster Hunter does, but all the weapons are pretty fun to use, especially the Heavy Moon, which is my current favourite weapon type. I was actually close to putting the game down because all the fights were way too easy and over in 10 seconds, even the boss fights, but then the fights suddenly became a lot harder (and just in time to keep me interested), so that's good.
I do think it's funny how Girls Frontline 2 completely ripped off this game's story. I didn't even realize it until I played God Eater 3 because no one online is talking about it.
Spoiler for the beginning portions of GE3 and GFL2
In God Eater 3, you ride aboard a mobile fortress through an apocalyptic wasteland rife with dangerous fiends. You have some top-secret cargo aboard that even you don't know the contents of, when something happens, and the cargo is revealed to be a young female child with superpowers. You take this child under your wing and don't plan on delivering the cargo to its intended destination anymore.In Girls Frontline 2: Exilium, you ride aboard a mobile fortress through an apocalyptic wasteland rife with dangerous fiends. You have some top-secret cargo aboard that even you don't know the contents of, when something happens, and the cargo is revealed to be a young female child with superpowers. You take this child under your wing and don't plan on delivering the cargo to its intended destination anymore.
Monster Hunter Rise: I never finished Sunbreak, so I'm doing that now in preparation for the prophecied winter performance update for Wilds (which I still haven't bought due to the aforementioned performance issues). I'm having trouble deciding on a weapon though. Longsword is usually my favourite Monster Hunter weapon, but I feel like Rise's iteration of it is one of the weakest, mainly due to the absolutely horrid detection on Foresight Slash/Iai Spirit Slash. I can literally be right in the middle of a monster's attack, where I would have 100% taken damage without the i-frames those moves afford, but I still don't get the proc for successfully dodging an attack. I never had that problem in World. They definitely changed something with the detection. I think an attack now has to hit where the move puts you as opposed to where you are when you press the button? Or something like that.
On the flipside, Rise's Lance is one of my favourite iterations on the weapon. Insta-Block feels so good to use.
Bongo Cat: Not actually a game, at least not really, but a fun little desktop overlay you can leave running while doing other things. It's a cat. It taps your screen when you hit a key. You can give it a hat. What's not to love?
As an aside, last time I got some helpful suggestions to build a zipline tower in the middle of the map in Grounded to make the traversal less painful. It sounded like a good idea, so I tried it. Unfortunately, as I was in the middle of building it, my home base got raided by mosquitoes and mostly destroyed before I managed to get back to defend. I'm afraid that killed my motivation to continue playing the game for good, but thank you for the suggestions. I'm sure the tower would have actually made the traversal a lot more fun.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea Link Parent100% agree on the combat part. (I can't speak to the rest, since the combat turned me off too much to finish the game.) The combat functions just like the classic ATB-style combat system, but...100% agree on the combat part. (I can't speak to the rest, since the combat turned me off too much to finish the game.) The combat functions just like the classic ATB-style combat system, but presents itself as action combat, full with a dodge roll (that doesn't actually function like a dodge roll, because it gives no i-frames, nor does it meaningfully allow you to maneuver away from attacks, since most attacks track your character perfectly). I can only imagine this was done as a means to appeal to younger players, but it didn't work for me at all. Give me classic FF-style turn-based combat back and I will love you forever.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea Link ParentFrom the sound of it, it sounds like you may have skipped the previous deep dungeon, Eureka Orthos. If you have, definitely give that one a try, as mobs in that dungeon oneshot you as early as...From the sound of it, it sounds like you may have skipped the previous deep dungeon, Eureka Orthos. If you have, definitely give that one a try, as mobs in that dungeon oneshot you as early as floor 21 iirc!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea Link ParentAs someone without a PS5 and for whom Yotei was one of my most anticipated games this year, it will be very difficult to wait 2 years (or however long Sony decides to leave the exclusivity up)....As someone without a PS5 and for whom Yotei was one of my most anticipated games this year, it will be very difficult to wait 2 years (or however long Sony decides to leave the exclusivity up). I'm on some hopium that Sony wizens up and realizes that this kind of exclusivity does nothing but hurt them financially.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea LinkMy quest to play every survival crafting game possible continues. Core Keeper: Didn't have this one on my radar at all before playing Abiotic Factor, but Abiotic Factor features a crossover with...My quest to play every survival crafting game possible continues.
Core Keeper: Didn't have this one on my radar at all before playing Abiotic Factor, but Abiotic Factor features a crossover with Core Keeper, so I thought I may as well check it out. If Terraria is 2D sidescroller Minecraft, then Core Keeper is 2D top-down Minecraft. It's really good! I'm not very far (just into scarlet tier), but I've been enjoying myself a lot.
Grounded: Not sure what to think of this one yet. The setting is incredibly cool, but there are some gameplay elements (particularly the very slow traversal across a massive map) that I find somewhat tedious. I'll reserve my final judgment on it until I've actually finished it though.
The Planet Crafter: If you think about it, this game is really just a very rudimentary idle clicker in 3D with survival crafting elements (or a survival crafting game with idle clicker elements, depending on your perspective) – but as with seemingly all idle clickers, it's incredibly addicting. I'm enjoying this one a lot. Thank the stars it's a Unity game though – without certain QoL mods (particularly the ability to craft from storage and to deposit items into nearby matching containers) the game would be downright unplayable.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
erithaea (edited )Link ParentYou might want to ask @BeardyHat about that. Based on their post, they're much further in the game than I am. But to my knowledge, everything in the game is handcrafted and there are no...You might want to ask @BeardyHat about that. Based on their post, they're much further in the game than I am. But to my knowledge, everything in the game is handcrafted and there are no procedurally generated elements, so in that sense I don't see big replayability potential here, at least not for me. However, because the game is so much fun and (I think at least) quite big in scope, I could definitely see myself playing the game for close to a hundred hours if not more.
There is class and trait selection at the start of the game, and
these are permanent and cannot be changed once you start your character(there's actually a way to respec, but you don't unlock access to it until later on), but your class only really gives you extra experience points when leveling certain skills. Traits are more interesting – there are positive and negative traits (choosing some negative traits allows you to pick more positive traits), and some of them have quite debilitating or powerful effects. Still, I don't think I would start a new playthrough just for the traits alone.Maybe there are mods that add new levels or change the gameplay to a sufficiently significant degree to warrant a new playthrough? I'm not really sure how moddable the game is and, in the interest of avoiding spoilers, haven't done any research in that regard yet.
Slight correction: Megabonk is played in third person, not first.