kfwyre's recent activity
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Comment on DK64 ReKONGpiled, a modern recompilation of Donkey Kong 64, has been released in ~games
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DK64 ReKONGpiled, a modern recompilation of Donkey Kong 64, has been released
12 votes -
Comment on CGA-2026-08 🗡️🛡️❤️🔺 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
kfwyre LinkNot specifically relevant to LTTP, but for CGA in general: The Wii and PS3 are 'retro' now, according to iconic Japanese gaming show Something to consider for our next round of nominations and...Not specifically relevant to LTTP, but for CGA in general:
The Wii and PS3 are 'retro' now, according to iconic Japanese gaming show
According to an article from Automaton Media, the show—which is essentially a let's play variety show starring comedian Shinya Arino—recently held a vote as to whether Wii and PS3 games should be awarded the "retro" moniker and considered for inclusion. The poll reportedly got over 14,000 responses with 71% voting in favor, and when a second round followed, that percentage rose to 80% among nearly 17,000 voters. Arino declared that games from both consoles will indeed be considered for the show moving forward.
So what does this have to do with PC gaming? Well, we have a retro gaming scene too, and if we agree for the sake of argument that those consoles are retro on the basis that they're turning 20 this year, that would mean the following PC games are also retro: Medieval II: Total War, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Dawn of War - Dark Crusade, Neverwinter Nights 2, the first season of Telltale's Sam & Max reboot, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and perhaps most upsettingly, Company of Heroes.
Something to consider for our next round of nominations and voting (coming soon!).
We don’t have any hard and fast rules around what constitutes “retro” for CGA, but it’s definitely interesting to see how other people/organizations interpret the concept and draw the line.
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Build your own video game listicle
The top 7 chillest Genesis games YOU NEED IN YOUR BUSY MODERN LIFE Best video game barrel explosions, ranked Five games that defied your expectations (plus one you'll never guess!) These 3 console...
- The top 7 chillest Genesis games YOU NEED IN YOUR BUSY MODERN LIFE
- Best video game barrel explosions, ranked
- Five games that defied your expectations (plus one you'll never guess!)
- These 3 console flops make the Ouya look like a success
- The best magical swords of the 16-bit era
The internet is loaded with clickbaity articles like these (note: I specifically made these up, so apologies if any sound interesting). They were already somewhat low effort content, but they've gotten far worse in the age of AI.
As such, I thought it might be cool if we could make our own hand-crafted, artisan, bespoke humanslop ones here. You know, for fun.
- Choose a list topic.
- Populate it with games/mechanics/series/consoles/controllers/whatever.
- Explain how each fits the theme.
Be as serious or as nonsensical as you like. Be as generic ("top games of 2025") or as specific ("games that kfwyre spent more time setting up than playing") as you want. Create the video game listicle of your dreams, with as little or as much clickbaitiness as you like.
18 votes -
Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech
kfwyre Link ParentTo add to this: here's a good rundown of all the available vendors supporting Linux. I've been using a System76 Oryx Pro since 2019 and have nothing but good things to say about it and them (great...To add to this: here's a good rundown of all the available vendors supporting Linux.
I've been using a System76 Oryx Pro since 2019 and have nothing but good things to say about it and them (great customer service).
That said, I would recommend against using their Pop!_OS for the time being -- especially for anyone new to Linux. They just launched their COSMIC desktop environment which is really cool and has a lot of potential, but it simply isn't ready for primetime yet. It is being very actively developed and rapidly improving over time, but new users need a "Just Works" solution and COSMIC isn't there yet.
When buying through them you have the option of Ubuntu instead, which I'd recommend to new users over Pop!_OS. Alternately, you can always buy an S76 machine and simply put your own beginner-friendly distro of choice on it (Mint or Fedora KDE would be my recommendations).
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 🗡️🛡️❤️🔺 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentBig same! I think it can be tough for the monumental giants of yesteryear to live up to their esteem. Going in with with the knowledge that something is considered one of the greatest games of all...But of those retro games, I tend to play the games that time has forgotten.
Big same!
I think it can be tough for the monumental giants of yesteryear to live up to their esteem. Going in with with the knowledge that something is considered one of the greatest games of all time means it has a lot to live up to, and it can bring its flaws into particularly sharp relief. But if I play a forgotten title of yesteryear that has no current "presence", it's a lot easier to just appreciate it for what it is.
Also, like you mentioned, these all-time classics are so influential that it means that people have taken the formula and recreated it, iterated on it, etc. This often has the effect of undercutting the original by familiarizing us with it despite having not played it (i.e. Seinfeld Is Unfunny). Additionally, if it's something that has been substantially improved in the interim, then it means we've effectively played better versions of it, which makes returning to the source fundamentally disappointing.
I experienced this recently when I tried to pick up Metroid. All I could see were its flaws and the ways it has since been done so much better.
Meanwhile, I've also been playing an extremely middling racer on the Dreamcast called Vanishing Point and thoroughly enjoying it because I had zero expectations of it in the first place. I don't think it's a particularly good game by any means, and there are plenty of other better racing games, but it's also not obligated to live up to anything which makes it easier to appreciate.
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 🗡️🛡️❤️🔺 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentI think it's awesome that y'all did an Archipelago run for CGA! I didn't follow the updates directly because I didn't want to spoil anything, but I thought it was a genuinely cool and fresh way of...I think it's awesome that y'all did an Archipelago run for CGA!
I didn't follow the updates directly because I didn't want to spoil anything, but I thought it was a genuinely cool and fresh way of engaging with a retro game. I'm glad we had enough people here familiar with the game to make it happen. Also kudos to you as always for your tech wizardry in getting it set up (as well as coordinating it).
I'm also happy to report that y'all's updates weren't spammy at all -- in fact, I loved seeing such genuine activity. CGA topics often quickly go quiet, so I liked that this one didn't immediately hit the mid-month doldrums.
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 🗡️🛡️❤️🔺 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
kfwyre (edited )LinkEver get super into a game, then put it down for too long, and when you come back, the fire is gone? That was this for me. I really, genuinely enjoyed what I played until I took a vacation,...Ever get super into a game, then put it down for too long, and when you come back, the fire is gone?
That was this for me.
I really, genuinely enjoyed what I played until I took a vacation, dropped it for a week, and then tried to come back to it. I'd forgotten what I was supposed to be doing and a lot of my mental mapping of the game (I know there's an in-game map, but I'm talking about the finer details).
I put in probably 7ish hours total. I had been pulled into the Dark World by a boss and was supposed to find seven sisters or something like that? The dungeon I was in had multiple levels on the same screen, and you could zoom from a higher level across a gap onto a lower level. I'm not sure how far along that is into the game, but given that it was my first time and I wasn't using a guide, I assume I was well behind where most people could get in the same amount of time.
I played using the zelda3 reimplementation which worked great. Because I've never played the original, I can't say exactly what it improved, but I can say that it made this feel like a modern-ish indie game. The graphics still look good with colors that pop and the screen being very readable.
I was surprised at how much the game experimented with vertical depth. Multiple levels in dungeons; holes that you can fall in; perspective drawing on some items to give them an almost 3D feeling.
That said, THE most annoying part of the game that I played (by far) was the boss that's on that floating platform that can knock you off the edges to the floors below. I finally ended up getting the rhythm down, but I had to climb back up SO many times.
Which brings me to one downside of using the reimplementation: no save states. I have zero qualms with save state scumming, especially in older games, and especially in games with limited save points like this one had. I didn't love that I'd be exploring some new place in depth knowing that, if I had to stop playing, I'd have to start back at one of the few respawn points and work my way back there.
This probably isn't a huge problem for players who know the map and enemies, but as a first timer who was still learning the enemy patterns and what items to use, it got a touch grating -- especially early on when I had no game knowledge and few hearts. I died a LOT.
The Dark World reminded me of
End-game spoilers for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
the inverted castle.
I think it's interesting how these two games are able to expand their worlds significantly through a twist on the familiar. I also wonder if a key reason for doing this was memory limitations and they had to find a way to broaden their scopes through strategic asset reuse. If so, well done devs!
Having played at least some of it, I can see why this game is beloved and considered a classic. I also personally really did enjoy my limited time with it. I wasn't blown away by it or anything, but that's because I'm wearing my weathered old 2026 brain and not my eager childhood 1992 one. If I'd played this back in the day (I never even had the chance, as I never had an SNES), I can all but guarantee I would have absolutely adored it.
The bright, expressive graphics; the exploration and puzzling your way through dungeons; my willingness to sit down with a single game and dive into it for weeks, months, and even years at at time so that I got to know all of its intricacies backwards and forward: it would have landed very different than it did on busy adult me who has a thousand other things wanting my time and attention.
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Comment on CGA-2026-08 🗡️🛡️❤️🔺 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in ~games
kfwyre LinkCGA Announcement: We have officially ejected the cartridge for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. This topic is for people to share their parting thoughts and experiences. Spoilers are NOT...CGA Announcement: We have officially ejected the cartridge for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
This topic is for people to share their parting thoughts and experiences. Spoilers are NOT required to be hidden for this topic, so if you're reading this before you've finished, be careful about reading any comments here.
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Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech
kfwyre Link ParentYour point about not having the background to even begin to problem solve is a huge one that I think a lot of people who are technically knowledgeable underestimate. If someone doesn't know what,...Your point about not having the background to even begin to problem solve is a huge one that I think a lot of people who are technically knowledgeable underestimate. If someone doesn't know what, say, a "partition" is, they can come to dead lock on installing a distro when the installer asks them to make an important decision about partitioning their hard drive alongside BIG SCARY WARNING MESSAGES ABOUT DESTROYING DATA.
There's a lot of embedded knowledge that gets taken for granted. If you're someone without it, a lot of Linux can be opaque. @SamusAu captured the concept well here.
Like 6ish months ago the wifi driver on my Ubuntu desktop just vanished. In the Windows world I wouldn't have even considered that a 'problem', I could fix it in my sleep. But I had no idea how to fix that in Linux. Turned out to not be hard, but it was an hour of googling and learning. So mostly its just knowledge gaps on my end.
People here have mentioned that the Linux community can be a bit testy with newbies asking for help, and I've definitely seen that elsewhere. That said, I've asked for help a lot here on Tildes and have genuinely had nothing but positive experiences from kind, knowledgeable people. Nobody has ever made me feel bad for not knowing something. In fact, the main tone I've experienced has been eagerness from people genuinely wanting to help or explain things in a way that makes sense.
Here's a notable example. (Note: that laptop from 2019 is still alive and kicking and hasn't had any issues since its motherboard replacement)
So, if you made a "Help me install Linux Mint" topic or something and asked questions in it as they came up, I have no doubt that you'd get good feedback here. Not saying you have to do this or anything but simply that I forsee it going well.
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Comment on Twenty-year-old Xbox 360 game Blue Dragon now has a fantastic unofficial PC port that unlocks the FPS, goes 4K, and even adds mod support in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentThat's definitely concerning. There's an open issue for it on Github where some people are saying it's a false positive but not really explaining why or how they know that. The main dev hasn't...That's definitely concerning. There's an open issue for it on Github where some people are saying it's a false positive but not really explaining why or how they know that. The main dev hasn't responded to it yet.
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What are your current pain points with Linux?
Linux has certainly come a long way, but it's also got room to grow. What are the things that are current issues with Linux for you? Annoyances, incompatibilities, lack of polish, etc. Also, if...
Linux has certainly come a long way, but it's also got room to grow.
- What are the things that are current issues with Linux for you? Annoyances, incompatibilities, lack of polish, etc.
- Also, if you're willing, share your level of experience with Linux (e.g. newbie, seasoned veteran, etc.). (I imagine those new to the OS will have very different pain points than people who have been using it for 20+ years).
Importantly, I ask this NOT to have people dunk on Linux or to start arguments about different aspects of it, but I do so to start a conversation about what could be better/smoother/easier. I love Linux and love that it just keeps getting better, day after day and year after year. The idea of highlighting where it could continue to grow in the future is exciting to me.
58 votes -
Comment on Twenty-year-old Xbox 360 game Blue Dragon now has a fantastic unofficial PC port that unlocks the FPS, goes 4K, and even adds mod support in ~games
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentMy condolences on the lower back pain.My condolences on the lower back pain.
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Comment on Twenty-year-old Xbox 360 game Blue Dragon now has a fantastic unofficial PC port that unlocks the FPS, goes 4K, and even adds mod support in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentGood info. I changed the title to reflect this.Good info. I changed the title to reflect this.
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Comment on Twenty-year-old Xbox 360 game Blue Dragon now has a fantastic unofficial PC port that unlocks the FPS, goes 4K, and even adds mod support in ~games
kfwyre (edited )LinkDirect link to the project on Github IMPORTANT: Some virus scanners are currently flagging this. Could be a false positive, but also might be something to wait out. A few years ago my husband...re:Blue, a static recompilation of the Dragon Quest-inspired JRPG, follows in the footsteps of the unofficial Sonic Unleashed PC port that proved how effective fan-made ports can be. These projects cleverly translate the original game code to run natively on modern PCs, but don't include any of the original assets to avoid copyright issues.
This technique has proven so popular that it's inspired a wave of AI vibe-coded ports that don't take the time and care to thoroughly adapt the original game to PC. But in spite of that, the good projects—like the recent Zelda: Twilight Princess port—have made it one of the most exciting things happening in games right now.
"My standards have always been pretty high when it comes to this kind of stuff—I like to make quality products," says Tom, the programmer behind re:Blue as well as ReXGlue, a toolset meant to help developers create more recompilations of Xbox 360 games like Blue Dragon. Tom introduced ReXGlue earlier this year, but has spent much of 2026 working on his port of Blue Dragon as a showcase for what his tools are capable of.
Direct link to the project on Github
IMPORTANT: Some virus scanners are currently flagging this. Could be a false positive, but also might be something to wait out.
A few years ago my husband borrowed our friend's 360 just so he could play this game again, so I'm putting it on his Steam Deck as I write this. (Shhh: don't tell him! He's not home from work yet and it's a surprise.)
EDIT: Husband played it all last night and this morning (the Linux build, which is hopefully virus free?). He says it's great. Only "issue" he's reported is that cutscenes load in 4:3 very briefly before switching to widescreen.
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Twenty-year-old Xbox 360 game Blue Dragon now has a fantastic unofficial PC port that unlocks the FPS, goes 4K, and even adds mod support
22 votes -
Comment on Are others finding themselves spending less and less time online? in ~tech
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentFor what it's worth (and I say this as someone with personal experience): depression can be so debilitating that you're literally unable to take actions that you know will benefit you. In my mid...For what it's worth (and I say this as someone with personal experience): depression can be so debilitating that you're literally unable to take actions that you know will benefit you.
In my mid 20s I had a really bad period where I simply could not function outside of go-to-work-so-I-don't-lose-my-income-so-I-don't-get-evicted (and even in doing that I was like an automaton).
I remember that my dishes piled up in my sink because I simply could not wash a single one. I quickly ran out of clean dishes to use so I stopped home-eating and just got take out/delivery constantly. My sink then started to smell, which I, of course, did nothing about until it started getting completely overpowering and possibly a health hazard, at which point I was somehow able to muster up enough resolve to throw everything a trash bag and toss them out.
I didn't replace any of them. I don't even think I scrubbed or cleaned the sink itself afterwards.
While this was happening, my car also broke down. I then bummed a ride off my coworker. I was, of course, completely unable to do anything about my car, and after maybe two weeks my coworker quietly let me know that she wasn't going to bring me to work anymore. I'd worn out my welcome with her good deed and was by then a complete burden to her. She was justifiably frustrated that I'd taken no steps to get my car fixed.
This meant that I then had to walk about an hour each way to get to work. I know it sounds like that's "doing something" and would be more difficult than just, you know, getting my car fixed, but it only happened because of that automaton-like nature that I described earlier. I would walk to and from work and my mind was completely blank the whole time. I don't even remember doing it most of the time, despite the fact that I know I did it for weeks. It didn't feel like it was me doing it -- it felt like I was on autopilot. I didn't miss all that time taken out of my day because my days were meaningless anyway. Whether I was walking or at home I was in an interminable gray haze, so it didn't matter where or how I experienced it.
A month or two later, I finally was able to call someone to come tow the car and take it in to fix it. The guy asked me if the car had been sitting idle for a while, because I guess that's bad for it and would affect how he diagnosed its issues. I remember lying and saying "maybe two weeks" because I was embarrassed that it had been probably four times that, and I didn't want to try to explain how even though I wanted the car fixed and I needed the car fixed, I simply couldn't do it. I knew there wasn't any explanation I could give that would make sense to him, even if it was the truth.
I understand how, from an outside perspective, this is infuriating. You can't pick up a plate and wash it? It takes like, 10 seconds! You can't get someone to fix the car? It's ONE phone call.
What I want people to understand about depression is that it is genuinely that powerful. It can completely deactivate and disable you, to the point where those 10 seconds and that one phone call are literally impossible for you. It doesn't necessarily stop you from knowing you should clean the plate, or wanting to clean the plate (though it certainly can) -- what it does is it completely stops you from being able to do so no matter what.
One of my students once gave me a metaphor for it (which was all the more apt given my own experiences with my car):
"People keep telling me I need to do something, but if there's no gas in a car, it's not going to move no matter what. There's no gas in my tank."
It, to me, was the perfect summation of depression. From an outside perspective it's easy to get frustrated with the driver, but even if they're turning the key and putting their foot on the gas, the car simply isn't going anywhere.
Depression is being stuck in that car.
Also, being aware of this limitation often makes the depression worse. The disease already has you wallowing in despair and hopelessness. Then, it cuts off even your most basic functions, which further drives home its central thesis that things will never get better, that nothing will ever change, that life isn't worth living, etc. It's like an abuser isolating its victim and rendering them helpless.
I say all of this not to override your frustration. In fact, I empathize with it, because I know that, in the throes of my depressions, I become a burden to people I'm close to and frustrate them. Sound advice doesn't land. Simple suggestions have no effect. Care and help are ignored and unappreciated. That is genuinely upsetting for someone who cares about someone with depression. What I want people to know is that the executive dysfunction that they're witnessing isn't necessarily a stubbornness or moral failing on the part of the person. It is, in fact, a symptom of the disorder itself.
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How rigid/fluid is your LGBT identity?
Is it static, or does it change? How does that feel to you? How does it play out in your day-to-day life? What thoughts do you have about rigidity/fluidity in general? (As always, I'm using LGBT...
Is it static, or does it change?
How does that feel to you?
How does it play out in your day-to-day life?
What thoughts do you have about rigidity/fluidity in general?
(As always, I'm using LGBT as an umbrella term here, so this question applies to anyone with minority gender, sexual, or romantic identities)
35 votes -
Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
kfwyre (edited )LinkI normally only watch documentaries, but I'm trying to watch more movie movies. Here's what I've hit up recently: Project Hail Mary Loved the book. Loved the movie. It loses a lot of the science...I normally only watch documentaries, but I'm trying to watch more movie movies. Here's what I've hit up recently:
Project Hail Mary
Loved the book. Loved the movie. It loses
some ofa lot of the science in the transition to the screen, but it keeps the emotional core of the book and soars because of it.I still cried a lot even though I already knew what was going to happen!
Companion
I knew literally nothing about this except that it was mildly buzzy a while back and that the lead actress has blank eyes in the movie poster. I assumed that it was going to be about like, demonic possession or something.
I'm glad I went in like that, because not even knowing the most basic part of its premise made this a fun and twisty ride. It felt like a solid Black Mirror episode (thought admittedly with a completely different tone).
I Saw the TV Glow
I don't think this is a movie for everyone or even most people, but for the thin slice of people for whom it's going to hit, it hits HARD. I'm one of those people.
This is the best queer movie I've seen in a long time -- probably since Moonlight. Also, the coloring and lighting in this movie was next level. Nearly every scene was a visual treat.
The Surrogate (2020)
This movie is about a surrogate mother for a gay couple wanting to have a child. I watched this before the quite relevant recent news arose which gives the film, in my opinion, a far more striking resonance.
I really liked this one as a character study. Everybody in the film feels a bit real and quite flawed. It's definitely a slow burn, so I'd only recommend it to someone looking for a human drama where people mostly just talk to each other. I also think that the film is trying to tell the story of these specific characters rather than trying to make a didactic statement about "the issues" in general, which I think is wise.
And if we're talking documentaries, I should mention:
Listers
A feel-good stoner documentary about extreme birdwatching. Has a bit of a tough time with its tone, inviting you to empathize with and simultaneously laugh at birders, but also it's not that serious in the first place so even looking at it tonally is too much for what it's going for. Suffice it to say, I was entertained.
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Comment on Dolly Parton, country music legend, dies at 80 in ~music
kfwyre Link ParentEveryone get your malice tags ready because I'm about to start a fight. IS THE MONA LISA JUST PAINT? WAS THE APOLLO SPACECRAFT JUST METAL? All jokes aside, I genuinely like both versions of the...To me, Whitney's version is just yelling
Everyone get your malice tags ready because I'm about to start a fight. IS THE MONA LISA JUST PAINT? WAS THE APOLLO SPACECRAFT JUST METAL?
All jokes aside, I genuinely like both versions of the song separately -- specifically because they have such different feels.
I’m personally super excited about this one. I just finished with the Banjo-Kazooie recomp a few weeks ago, and it was excellent. I have high hopes for this one as well.