knocklessmonster's recent activity
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Comment on The small company at the center of ‘Gamergate 2.0’ in ~games
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Comment on Some thoughts about Starfield's world in ~games
knocklessmonster 25 hours total is an effort for a game you don't like. I'd say two is noble. I was a little worried I'd come on like "you don't have the right!" and was going to move on, but I was thinking more...but I think 25 hours of playtime is a reasonable amount of time to put a game down after if I'm not vibing.
25 hours total is an effort for a game you don't like. I'd say two is noble. I was a little worried I'd come on like "you don't have the right!" and was going to move on, but I was thinking more about how I've led myself to the wrong opinion of a game by thinking about my impression of it, rather than the game as it exists.
As far as the bits that worked, first was the opening sequence to when you meet Constellation, I had goosebumps the whole time, even their showcase that July worked on me. Though I legitimately cried when I started the game the first time, which weirded me out a bunch, but this game feels like it was designed for me, I just mesh so well with so much of it.
There were a bunch of great smaller random moments and minor beats, but the mid-game climax worked extremely well for/on me, and the ending, though a little cheesy, was rather beautiful.
Major spoilers
The loss of your primary/secondary follower, which comes down to a choice to stay in The Lodge, or go to The Eye had me crying because whatever you do, it's your fault in a sense. From there you meet them again as The Emissary, find out Keeper Aquillus is The Hunter who turned to a life of peace. Then, after the climax you're brought back to the story, the quest is still being in Constellation and their mission to explore the universe, there's just one more huge thing to explore.
Going into the end, I liked how they kept the stakes comparatively low, make you think there's this huge thing happening and then the stakes are revealed to be purely about exploration again. You get to do it again, and make your own future. The game slightly underdelivers on this premise, but it's basically Starfield from square one with a cool ship and suit, and the opportunity to improve your magic space powers.
Because of the way the game is designed, my brother and I have a pet theory that the main story quest should be done all at once with minimal distraction for maximum impact. This story isn't like Elder Scrolls where you're either sorta-but-not-really The Person of Destiny, or Fallout where you get wrapped up in some sort of weird conspiracy that is unfolded across the universe. I think I cleared it in about 30 hours on Normal, but from there it justifies NG+, which then sort of conceptually opens the game up so you can be a UC Vanguard captain this time, Crimson Fleet next time, and it makes more sense than the Elder Scrolls model where you can be in all the major factions.
Your Daggerfall comparison makes me realize that Bethesda has used procedural generation like this before to mixed results.
Daggerfall did this by creating a huge space that was impractical to traverse in anything approaching a reasonable player timeframe.
Fast travel is definitely a must-have for games of this scale. I find that it's enough to know that all the intervening terrain is there to stimulate the sense that the world is huge.The size of the world gives rise to a sense of scale more than it's an actual game mechanic. It also allows you to have scenarios, like go kill that monster or whatnot, and still have it believable that there could be a monster living in whatever wilderness location you choose. In most RPG games I've played, the monsters tends to live ~50 meters away from civilization, just around the corner. How do people live in a place where the simple act of leaving your house has a better than average chance of you meeting a horrifying end? Also, what good is a large world, mostly wilderness, if you don't use it? The player must experience it at least once to get a feel for the scope and flavor of the world.
Daggerfall did this successfully by allowing us to engage the space if we chose, however impractical it may be. Starfield tried this, but deprived us of mechanics that make the massive worldspace fun, like ways to rapidly traverse them via vehicles or skip-drives like No Man's Sky where you have a game on a galactic scale, but you only fast-travel between systems, galaxy sections, and galaxies until you unlock base warps and space station locations. I know NMS and Starfield comparisons are a dime a dozen, but I think this is one major, valid complaint that bugged me when I started Starfield.
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Comment on Some thoughts about Starfield's world in ~games
knocklessmonster Can I ask when you played Starfield? It hasn't changed significantly since launch, just QOL tweaks and whatnot, but I'd be curious if this is a perspective you had for six months, six weeks, or...Can I ask when you played Starfield? It hasn't changed significantly since launch, just QOL tweaks and whatnot, but I'd be curious if this is a perspective you had for six months, six weeks, or six hours. The timeline from when you played it to when you typed this could have a ton of time not engaging with the game and building a model of it in your head that exaggerates certain aspects of it. I ask because I'll find myself going back to a game and rethinking it, not that I expect that to happen en masse with Starfield.
That isn't to say anything you've said here is particularly bad or even strong. It's all balanced criticism of a game I genuinely love. I get lost in it and just chase stuff down similarly to Skyrim or Fallout 4, where the world serves as a simulator and sandbox more than a series of levels to traverse.
I have beef with the game, especially after 244 hours on it and have cooled a lot in how much I play, don't get me wrong. Here's my issues so I don't look like a fanboy (I am, but I hope to be fair in any assessments):
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Exploration: Fast travel to this degree kills the game. It's almost required for something on this scale, similarly to how Daggerfall was designed with the worldspace as a massive stage with scenes on it.
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It's kinda safe. Without spoiling the game has beats in it that were emotional for me (and others), that BGS hasn't really done in the same way, with the same impact, but it is pretty clean. It doesn't have to be Daggerfall/Arena levels of messed up (if you know that weird ES lore, you know), but it definitely was safe.
I believe Starfield is a well-done realization of Bethesda's intent. It's a very corporate and made by committee vision, but it's well executed.
I think this sums it up nicely, tbh. A lot of the game's issues come back to this, whereas Morrowind, for example, was absolutely bonkers because it was made by a handful of people with crazy lore ideas.
I also think they made a few significant gambles that led to a fairly polarized opinion of the game. People like me who enjoy(ed) it thoroughly got everything we wanted out of it (with some warts), but it also fell flat for even more people. I don't mean this in a "BGS can't please everybody" sense, but I think for having the impact for those it did, Bethesda did a good job. I do wish they made a game that was better for more people, and they could've done that by making it overall more interesting, having proper NMS-style mechanics like flying to the surface of a planet (even if they negate the 8-hour flight to the planet with fast travel), and whatnot. I was disappointed by how heavily it leans on fast travel as well but get enough out of it in other places.
Have you tried No Man's Sky? It takes the barrenness to an extreme with minimal humanoid contact, but is an amazing space game. It's nothing like at launch, and has had a massive overhaul. If you liked Astroneer you might like it as a complement with an emphasis on interplanetary/intersystem travel, instead of as a deep dive on one system.
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Comment on Mundane Musings Monday in ~talk
knocklessmonster Paperwork and in-processing. If you're a new patient it gets you out faster, without delaying other patients. In the US it alsonallows time to process insurance which is generally easy, but...Paperwork and in-processing. If you're a new patient it gets you out faster, without delaying other patients. In the US it alsonallows time to process insurance which is generally easy, but occasionally has a hiccup.
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Comment on On creation for creation's sake in ~talk
knocklessmonster (edited )LinkHere's a great resource. Thor Hall, aka PirateSoftware, also often says two things: You don't need to be skilled to make a game. Your first game will suck. I make music for its own sake and the...Thor Hall, aka PirateSoftware, also often says two things:
You don't need to be skilled to make a game.
Your first game will suck.I make music for its own sake and the hardest thing is to just do it. But that's what you have to do. Set a goal of some sort and execute as it is comfortable to do so. Walk away if you're stressing out about planning, but be sure to chill and come back to it as well.
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Comment on The more I use Linux, the more I hate every distro in ~tech
knocklessmonster Fedora, or eat the minor Ubuntu cruft and use Neon + flatpak or Kubuntu six-month releases. I set up Neon because I couldn't get NixOS running right on an old macbook I bought and it's been a...Fedora, or eat the minor Ubuntu cruft and use Neon + flatpak or Kubuntu six-month releases. I set up Neon because I couldn't get NixOS running right on an old macbook I bought and it's been a distro I wanted: Stable base, new KDE, not-too-old packages. It doesn't install any snaps, so you can remove snapd, and has flatpak preconfigured so you can get newer app versions that way. I don't hate snaps, but only want one non-distro package manager and prefer Flatpak.
Kubuntu can take new KDE versions via their PPA which is a pretty good solution as well.
SuSE Leap isnalso pretty good and not super old, as each point release is a major update. 16 aims to provide immutable and conventional options as well.
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Comment on Yuzu, popular Nintendo Switch emulator, settles with Nintendo for $2.4m and halts development and distribution indefinitely in ~games
knocklessmonster It wouldn't. It offsets where the piracy happens, in a sense. Dolphin has a key that Nintendo was told is not grounds for a lawsuit which gives them a pass, but most use decrypted data, or ROM...It wouldn't. It offsets where the piracy happens, in a sense. Dolphin has a key that Nintendo was told is not grounds for a lawsuit which gives them a pass, but most use decrypted data, or ROM rips that were never encrypted to start with.
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Comment on This comment has been removed and is not visible to other users..? in ~tildes
knocklessmonster I don't do any moderation here but figured a solid take would help you feel better. Not sure who did it, but it looked a little spammy, so probably got removed since two comments going "Hey are...I don't do any moderation here but figured a solid take would help you feel better.
Not sure who did it, but it looked a little spammy, so probably got removed since two comments going "Hey are you good?" is probably excessive. It's definitely nothing to worry about, since in that comment chain (three of you deep, I might add), you're just trying to be friendly and helpful.
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
knocklessmonster A bit of a shift in habits for me. I had a rough week at work and just wanted something loud, aggressive, and emotional, so I went for Whitechapel's The Valley. I had the pleasure of seeing them...A bit of a shift in habits for me. I had a rough week at work and just wanted something loud, aggressive, and emotional, so I went for Whitechapel's The Valley. I had the pleasure of seeing them live May 23, when I went to see Archspire opening for them, and they won me over. This album, and it's sequel Kin are excellent examples of how a genre like deathcore can be pushed into something more, I guess. I'm not too well-versed in the genre, but I'd consider the current iteration of Whitechapel to be a solid introduction to jump into harder stuff with the use of clean and harsh vocals to provide a sort of narrative balance and help things make sense to new listeners. It's sort of what got me further into the genre.
In the same vein, just having a bad week and wanting music to make it better, I was listening to Signs of the Swarm, who were at the same concert. Their album Amongst the Low and Empty is absolutely bonkers with sounds/feeling I'm used to with Meshuggah, Archspire, and breakcore artists like Drumcorps and Venetian Snares, but still completely unique and worth listening to for anybody into extreme metal or weird rhythms. I never really understood the idea of music making somebody want to fuck shit up until I listened to this album during a bad day at work, it was a great release. The vocals are also absolutely bonkers, and it was another point of technique I've found fascinating.
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Comment on Would a fairy or a walrus surprise you more if you found it on your doorstep? in ~talk
knocklessmonster A walrus would surprise me. Nothing that requires me to accept the existence of fairies compares to the surprise I would feel with a walrus schlepping itself across 12 miles of suburban hellscape...A walrus would surprise me. Nothing that requires me to accept the existence of fairies compares to the surprise I would feel with a walrus schlepping itself across 12 miles of suburban hellscape from the nearest zoo, if it even has walruses.
I would accept a fairy, a walrus would raise too many questions.
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Comment on KDE Plasma 6 is (mega) released in ~tech
knocklessmonster I'm using KDE Neon right now and just got the upgrade. I wanted it to be exciting but to their credit, KDE put out a solid release.I'm using KDE Neon right now and just got the upgrade. I wanted it to be exciting but to their credit, KDE put out a solid release.
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Comment on Fitness educational resources? in ~health
knocklessmonster (edited )Link ParentDumbbells are great for most exercises that are curls, extensions, etc, and hold the weight in a very steady, controlled position. From there it's all body leverage to do what you want with them....Dumbbells are great for most exercises that are curls, extensions, etc, and hold the weight in a very steady, controlled position. From there it's all body leverage to do what you want with them. They're conventional and extremely effective.
Kettlebells are generally used for more dynamic exercises like Swings, Snatches, Getups, as well as presses and cleans. A favorite of mine is the single-arm thruster.
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Uneven loads lead to cross-body utilization in many exercises, increasing how many muscles are worked by a single movement, such as one-armed kettlebell swings, one-armed squats or thrusters, and the snatch. Double-bell variants are a thing as well, which evens the load at twice the weight.
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Dynamic, changing loads amplify the work required to complete a movement, see kettlebell swings.
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Many movements with kettlebell are generally done explosively, like the thruster and the swing. This isn't unique to kettlebell, but is a general hallmark of kettlebell training.
I feel like I'm working for Big Kettlebell now, but everything in this comment is also stuff I like about them.
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Comment on Fitness educational resources? in ~health
knocklessmonster Exercise is the one thing I think benefits from videos over books. I like Mark Wildman for kettlebell and mace-related training. He also has a bit on general fitness. Look at his "nerd math" stuff...Exercise is the one thing I think benefits from videos over books.
I like Mark Wildman for kettlebell and mace-related training. He also has a bit on general fitness. Look at his "nerd math" stuff for help with programming things, and even general programming theory for exercise routines.
Hybrid Calisthenics is a great calisthenics channel, as is Al Kavadlo who has a lot of short instructional videos and Q&A about "progressive calisthenics," an older term for what dudes like Hamilton over at Hybrid, or Movement by David talk about as a general best calisthenics practice.
Squat University and Upright Health are great resources for strength, flexibility, and mobility.
Bob & Brad because if you're working out regularly, or even not, you'll likely get aches, pains, and stuff, and these two have a wealth of knowledge on how to handle all sorts of issues.
Pavel Tsatsouline's "Relax into Stretch" is also a really good book on the mechanics of stretching.
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Comment on Nintendo is suing the creators of popular Switch emulator Yuzu, saying their tech illegally circumvents Nintendo's software encryption and facilitates piracy in ~games
knocklessmonster Like, you buy games to dump and emulate? I should do that. I wound up buying games then downloading them.Like, you buy games to dump and emulate?
I should do that. I wound up buying games then downloading them.
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Comment on The majority of traffic from Elon Musk's X may have been fake during the Super Bowl, report suggests in ~tech
knocklessmonster It might have been a conspiracy theory in 2016 but the internet has been trending in this direction for a while. Reddit has a huge bot problem, many searches return generated SEO spam, and we're...It might have been a conspiracy theory in 2016 but the internet has been trending in this direction for a while. Reddit has a huge bot problem, many searches return generated SEO spam, and we're even seeing AI influencers and models on various platforms.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
knocklessmonster I will definitely buy a unit/parts off of you if you have one for the right price, I'm waiting for a restock from a seller on Tindie.I will definitely buy a unit/parts off of you if you have one for the right price, I'm waiting for a restock from a seller on Tindie.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
knocklessmonster My sister in law hit me up for my soundcloud to listen to some stuff and went "Hey this stuff is pretty good." That pushed me over the edge and I decided to master/release, an album I sat on for a...My sister in law hit me up for my soundcloud to listen to some stuff and went "Hey this stuff is pretty good." That pushed me over the edge and I decided to master/release, an album I sat on for a decade. This is that album
I will say it has some issues that I think go beyond the normal creative's struggle of "I'm just not good enough." Many sections are not particularly dynamic, it sort of drones in parts that aren't intended as longer more ambient interludes, and may not be the best mixed/mastered. I don't offer these because I'm fishing for compliments, I have had these thoughts listening to it myself while doing a quick and dirty master, and finally listening to it on my way home from work the other day.
I will say that my SIL enjoying my work, and my infant nephew apparently vibing to it, has been helpful as I've been in my own head for so long on the music production front.
I feel this wasn't particularly creative since it was a quick listen for mixing issues and a final "master," having Renoise gate everything so it wasn't clipping and normalizing -> merging -> crossfading -> exporting everything in Audacity for the final cut, but I also feel that talking about this is part of my process to finally let this era of my music hobby go.
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Comment on How do you like your Minetest? in ~games
knocklessmonster Nodecore was too hard for me to be reasonably fun. Repixture is "complete," and not actively developed. Wuzzy, the MineClone2 dev, is maintaining it for later versions. It feels more like...Nodecore was too hard for me to be reasonably fun.
Repixture is "complete," and not actively developed. Wuzzy, the MineClone2 dev, is maintaining it for later versions. It feels more like old-school minecraft, and is different enough you'll likely not run into any issues comparing it to Minecraft.
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Comment on How do you like your Minetest? in ~games
knocklessmonster Mineclone 2 is an incomplete Minecraft implementation. It mostly works as far as I've played, but there's something of an uncanny valley effect. I just compare it to the original when I play it,...Mineclone 2 is an incomplete Minecraft implementation. It mostly works as far as I've played, but there's something of an uncanny valley effect. I just compare it to the original when I play it, and spend too much time thinking about it. I keep a copy available, but it makes me want to just play Minecraft.
I like Repixture because it's more stripped down, rather than being an uncanny Minecraft clone. Wuzzy, the Mineclone2 developer, maintains it currently. It's not in active development, so it's at least a stable game to play without worrying about constant changes.
TBH I also just like the old-school play loop of Minetest Game. Tack on some mods you want to make it fun, like mobs, mesecons (for redstone), etc, and you can give yourself a pretty great experience.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
knocklessmonster Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: I got all the way to the end, the last progression to the dungeon where you fight Gannon and had to do a Windows reinstall, lost my save. I re-set up my...Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: I got all the way to the end, the last progression to the dungeon where you fight Gannon and had to do a Windows reinstall, lost my save. I re-set up my emulator, got a 100% save, and plan to do the boss fight as that was basically when I was going to hang up the game, and I just want that experience to tie it off.
Cyberpunk 2077: I had meant to play this when 2.0 came out and we're at 2.1 now. I just finished Act I and it is a radically different game with more mechanical depth that I feel I can actually tweak to my super-aggressive playstyle, such as +60% recovery while dashing to shoot somebody with a double-barrel shotgun and switching to a sword to get the next guy. It's amazing. I had been skeptical that there was that much left to retool, but it definitely feels better, and I don't think 1.x needed any fixes in this department.
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank: It's a sequel to Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, but more of a randomized dungeon shooter than anything with a linear overworld-based story. I've done a few runs, and it was fun, but haven't spent too much time with it. It's worth the $15, I think.
They're being harrassed because they offer sensitivity readings for games who already want racially and sexually diverse characters. All parties asked in the article state there is no requirement to follow the advice and it is done entirely at the discretion of the studios who asked for advice.
The Gamergate 2.0 justification is just a reason for people to be hateful shit bags.