mucoromycotina's recent activity

  1. Comment on PS5 and Xbox Series closing in on three years of use in ~games

    mucoromycotina
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    I've been a lifelong PC gamer. The only consoles I owned before the Series X were all Nintendo (N64, Gameboy, GameCube, DS, Wii, etc). I spent more time PC gaming during and after the WiiU era. In...

    I've been a lifelong PC gamer. The only consoles I owned before the Series X were all Nintendo (N64, Gameboy, GameCube, DS, Wii, etc). I spent more time PC gaming during and after the WiiU era. In 2020, I was looking to finally upgrade my aging R9 Fury GPU. Then the next gen console specs were released, and I couldn't justify spending the same amount of money on one GPU upgrade as a whole decked out console. I chose the Series X because I had no existing library which made Gamepass an unbeatable value. I was lucky enough to preorder it directly through Microsoft. It wasn't delivered until late December 2020, but my decision was immediately validated by the subsequent GPU shortage and skyrocketing prices.

    Initial Impressions

    I loved the Series X right away, but it was mostly because of Gamepass. I was a bit burnt out on gaming at the time and Gamepass completely rekindled my passion for it. I tried so many new games that I never would have touched otherwise. Forza Horizon 4 in particular was a ton of fun. The Gamepass backlog also meant that I wasn't too bothered by the lack of exciting next gen titles.

    I had forgotten how nice it was to simply pick up a controller and start gaming. The Xbox controller is comfortable and has my favorite d-pad design of all controllers I've used. The trigger haptics are cool, but Forza was the only game that used them well in my experience.

    The SSD is nice like many others have mentioned, but I was already accustomed to fast loading times. I believe I bought my first 128 gb SATA SSD for $90 in 2013. That was truly a mind blowing moment I'll never forget. Quick Resume was easily the feature I was most impressed with. The fact that it even works through power cycles seems like black magic, and PC didn't have anything comparable yet.

    Current Impressions

    Unfortunately for the Series X, most of my gaming is done on the Steam Deck now. It is a complete PC and portable gaming handheld in one convenient package. The Steam Deck provides the best of both PC and console-like gaming. My Series X is now only used for more demanding titles and some multiplayer games.

    • The Xbox controller just doesn't have enough inputs for modern gaming. I don't expect anyone other than Valve to have trackpads, but Microsoft is holding the industry back by not including gyro.
    • The "pick up and play" of consoles is nice, but I want more options than "performance mode" and "quality mode".
    • The ever increasing size of games is concerning.
    • It's a shame that 60 fps still can't be considered the baseline for every game.
    • Although, I have to admit that 4K visuals can be pretty neat.
    • Microsoft have slowly been increasing the price of Gamepass. The Xbox Live Gold conversion trick for Ultimate was also made worse. I topped off my Ultimate a few months before this. However, with massive acquisitions like Bethesda and Activision/Blizzard, I'm almost certain that Microsoft will continue this trend. It's unsettling to think what the digital-only future could look like in 2026 when my subscription expires.
    3 votes

  2. Comment on What are your favourite genre-bending bands/artists? in ~music

    mucoromycotina
    Link Parent
    Rivers of Nihil definitely fits in this thread. I saw them on tour when Where Owls Know My Name released, and they were fantastic. In a similar vein, check out White Ward. They are experimental...

    Rivers of Nihil definitely fits in this thread. I saw them on tour when Where Owls Know My Name released, and they were fantastic.

    In a similar vein, check out White Ward. They are experimental post-black metal with a dedicated saxophonist. False Light and Love Exchange Failure are both phenomenal albums.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on What are your favourite genre-bending bands/artists? in ~music

    mucoromycotina
    Link Parent
    I'm glad that my comment helped you find new music. I had the same reaction as you when I first listened to Whispered. They are one of my go-to bands for getting pumped up. Check out Chthonic as...

    I'm glad that my comment helped you find new music. I had the same reaction as you when I first listened to Whispered. They are one of my go-to bands for getting pumped up.

    Check out Chthonic as well. There's a good chance you'll like them since you enjoyed Whispered.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on What are your favourite genre-bending bands/artists? in ~music

    mucoromycotina
    Link
    Oh boy, do I have a list for you. Metal and jazz are the genres I listen to the most which results in some awesome fusions. I've separated my list by perceived "harshness" since I know not...
    • Exemplary

    Oh boy, do I have a list for you. Metal and jazz are the genres I listen to the most which results in some awesome fusions. I've separated my list by perceived "harshness" since I know not everyone enjoys abrasive music.

    Clean

    • Compasses - (Progressive Joropo):
      I discovered these guys through a popular youtube video many years ago. I highly recommend watching the whole video. I had no idea that the maracas could be played with such depth. Check out their album Sotavento for more.

    • Thank You Scientist - (Prog Rock, Jazz Fusion):
      This band has seven members to cover vocals, guitar, violin, bass, trumpet, saxophone, and drums as well as guests to provide trombone, percussion, cello, etc. It sounds like a lot, and it is, but Thank You Scientist manages to intricately blend it all together. My favorite album is Terraformer.

    • Crying - (Electropop, Chiptune, Power Pop):
      Prepare for some upbeat, energetic gameboy bleeps overlayed with soft female vocals and backed by rock guitars and drums. Even though Get Olde Second Wind implements chiptune to great effect, Crying eventually moved away from it in their later releases.

    • Dutty Moonshine Big Band - (Big Band, Electro swing, Rap):
      This 14 piece big band presents itself as a collective of moonshine peddling, fire spitting, most wanted gangsters straight out of a film noir. Their debut album, Most Wanted, is loud, brash, and intense.

    • Blood Ceremony - (Psychedelic Doom Rock/Metal, Occult, Folk):
      Blood Ceremony is an eclectic combination of Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, and a flute wielding witch. You can't go wrong with any of their albums, but Lords of Misrule is a personal favorite of mine.

    • Native Construct - (Prog Metal, Musical Theatre, Jazz Fusion):
      Quiet World is unfortunately Native Construct's one and only album. It is a whimsical voyage delivered through vocal harmonies, technical composition, and symphonic arrangements. Disclaimer: this album contains harsh vocals, but they appear sparingly.

    Rough

    • Diablo Swing Orchestra - (Symphonic Avant-garde Metal, Swing):
      Take some strings, brass, and synths and mash them together with a metal band. Then add operatic vocals and you end up with Diablo Swing Orchestra. Their sound continues to mutate over the years, but all of their albums have their own charm. Their first album, The Butcher's Ballroom, is still an excellent starting point.

    • Nine Treasures - (Mongolian Folk Metal):
      There are many Mongolian folk metal bands, but Nine Treasures is my favorite one. If you've never heard this style before, you're in for a treat. The traditional instruments and Mongolian throat singing are complemented by driving folk metal. Awakening from Dukkha is a compilation of re-recorded and re-mastered songs from their discography.

    • Panzerballet - (Jazz Fusion, Prog Metal, Funk):
      This is the very essence of "jazz metal". Tank Goodness.

    • Zeal and Ardor - (Industrial/Black Metal, Soul, Gospel, Folk):
      I picked Zeal and Ardor's album Stranger Fruit for the July 2023 AlbumLove Tildes thread. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of Zeal and Ardor.

    Harsh

    • Sigh - (Avant-garde/Black Metal, Symphonic):
      Sigh is a Japanese band that creates highly experimental metal with an unusually melodic nature. They incorporate all kinds of instruments, synthetic elements, and varied vocal styles. In Somniphobia is just one of their many genre defying journeys.

    • Dreadnought - (Progressive Extreme/Post-Metal/Rock):
      I can't get enough of Dreadnought's haunting and captivating vocals. Their most recent album, The Endless, dials back the metal and might be easier on the ears for some. It's a fantastic album, but Emergence is their best in my opinion because of its black metal influence and more extreme vocals.

    • Whispered - (Melodic Death/Power Metal, Japanese Folk):
      This Finnish band can be described as "samurai metal". Their music is heavily inspired by Japanese folklore and features traditional instruments. Metsutan - Songs of the Void is full of bangers.

    • Rolo Tomassi - (Mathcore, Post-Hardcore, Prog Rock):
      This band has evolved so much throughout their history, but they have always retained an experimental ideology. Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It is one of my favorite albums of all time. I honestly don't know how to describe it. I leave it up to you to give it a chance and form your own opinion.

    • Potmos Hetoimos - (Prog/Doom/Sludge/Post-Metal, Jazz):
      Vox Medusae by Potmos Hetoimos is an undeniably weird and chaotic experience. I believe it strikes a fine balance between structured noise and creative genius.

    • Chthonic (閃靈) - (Melodic Death/Black Metal, Taiwanese Folk):
      Chthonic is one of Taiwan's greatest gifts to the world. All of their albums are deeply rooted in Taiwanese history. Most of their albums have two versions, one with English lyrics and one with Taiwanese lyrics. I personally prefer the Taiwanese versions, but they are a little harder to find. Some of the music videos for Bú-Tik have the Taiwanese lyrics.

    Well this ended up a lot longer than I intended, but I had a lot of fun re-listening to such diverse music. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy at least one of the bands listed here.

    8 votes

  5. Comment on AlbumLove recommendations thread: July 2023 in ~music

    mucoromycotina
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    Stranger Fruit by Zeal and Ardor - 2018, Industrial/Black Metal, Soul, Gospel, Folk I still get goosebumps every time I return to this album. Zeal and Ardor was born from 4chan of all places....

    Stranger Fruit by Zeal and Ardor - 2018, Industrial/Black Metal, Soul, Gospel, Folk

    I still get goosebumps every time I return to this album. Zeal and Ardor was born from 4chan of all places. Vocalist and guitarist Manuel Gagneux asked 4chan for genres of music to blend together. One suggestion was "black metal" while another was unsurprisingly "n***er music". Manuel ignored the hate and instead turned this into "satanic slave songs". Side note for non-metalheads: "black metal" is an actual metal subgenre and has no connection to black people.

    Two of my favorite tracks are Row Row and You Ain't Coming Back. The lyrics on these two are especially emotional and hit hard.

    4 votes

  6. Comment on Fresh Album Fridays: Lil Uzi Vert, The Japanese House, Angelo De Augustine and more in ~music

    mucoromycotina
    Link
    Here are some new releases I listened to today. Coffin Mulch was also mentioned by 0x29A Metal Decade of Mutiny I by Vampire Squid - [Technical Death Metal, Mathcore]: Vampire Squid's discography...

    Here are some new releases I listened to today. Coffin Mulch was also mentioned by 0x29A

    Metal

    • Decade of Mutiny I by Vampire Squid - [Technical Death Metal, Mathcore]:
      Vampire Squid's discography consists of humorous oceanic puns and technical instrumentation, in that order. Reading the lyrics is half the fun. The band re-recorded five of their favorite songs from their first album in honor of its 10 year anniversary, and they sound great.

    • Spectral Intercession by Coffin Mulch - [Death Metal]:
      Coffin Mulch's first EP was solid, but at the same time it didn't particularly stand out to me. Spectral Intercession, on the other hand, sharpened the dull butcher knife and polished it for good measure. There are plenty of headbangers in this one.

    Chiptune

    • .​.​.​especially any of this by Petriform - [Chiptune, Bitpop]:
      I've always liked Petriform's compositions within the chiptune genre, especially the synthetic vocals. This album is essentially a collection of goofy B-sides from the 2018 album nothing is for sure, and they brightened up my day.

  7. Comment on The Steam Summer Sale Has Begun (June 29th - July 13th) in ~games

    mucoromycotina
    Link Parent
    I've had my Deck for over a year now, and I use it for both gaming and general PC use even though I also have a desktop PC. Here are some pros/cons to add to your list: Pros More physical inputs...

    I've had my Deck for over a year now, and I use it for both gaming and general PC use even though I also have a desktop PC. Here are some pros/cons to add to your list:

    Pros

    • More physical inputs than the Ally (4 back buttons, 2 trackpads, capacitive touch joysticks).
    • Battery life can be 6+ hours for less demanding games.
    • Larger community means it's easy to find online support as well as cool third party development such as the Decky loader plugin.
    • Valve is dedicated to supporting their hardware. My Steam Controller still gets occasional updates.
    • iFixit is an official partner with genuine replacement parts and detailed breakdown guides.

    Cons

    • Tinkering is required to get some games working which can be annoying.
    • Actual OS updates are slow. SteamOS is still on linux kernel 5.13. SteamOS 3.5 is based on kernel 6.1 (I think), but it's still in testing with a release date of SoonTM.
    • The Stable update branch sometimes gets bugs that definitely don't belong in Stable.
    • SteamOS can be a little restrictive for people who want to use it as their linux desktop.

    The upgraded hardware/screen of the Ally look great, but I personally love the trackpads way too much to consider any device that lacks them.

    10 votes

  8. Comment on Guild Wars 2 announced it's first mini expansion, 'Secrets of the obscure' in ~games

    mucoromycotina
    Link Parent
    I agree. I really liked the "Return to ..." Living World events/achievements they ran before End of Dragons released. It gave everyone a great incentive to revisit past content together. The...

    I'm really excited to have new content that's not siloed away in its own part of the map. some of the living world maps get pretty lonely, and EoD still feels like a ghost town, especially Kaineng.

    I agree. I really liked the "Return to ..." Living World events/achievements they ran before End of Dragons released. It gave everyone a great incentive to revisit past content together. The quarterly updates tied to the expansion also fixes the problem of inactive players missing out on the free LW episodes.

    I remember thinking that New Kaineng was such a cool zone when I first went there. I had a ton of fun zooming between buildings on my griffon. Unfortunately, the novelty didn't take long to wear off. It's such a shame that a city of that size has so little substance.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Guild Wars 2 announced it's first mini expansion, 'Secrets of the obscure' in ~games

    mucoromycotina
    (edited )
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    There are more details on the expansion's home page as well as other anet blog posts (combat changes, new rewards, and story/skyscale info). I'm honestly surprised by what's been announced. I...

    There are more details on the expansion's home page as well as other anet blog posts (combat changes, new rewards, and story/skyscale info).

    I'm honestly surprised by what's been announced. I cautiously set my expectations lower when anet revealed the new timeline of roughly one expansion + 3 quarterly updates per year. Some things I'm excited about:

    • Elite specialization weapons going core.
    • New weapon for each profession.
    • New legendary armor set obtainable through open world.
    • New skyscale/flying mount masteries
    • Splitting the bonus from runes into relics (hopefully this means runes get a balance pass).
    • Finally finding out what the deal is with the floating wizard's tower.

    It's going to be difficult to beat the amount of content previous expansions had as well as no longer getting free Living World content, but that quantity of updates was never going to be sustainable. I'm just glad GW2 is not only alive, but growing after more than a decade.

    6 votes

  10. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    mucoromycotina
    Link
    I just joined Tildes, so this is what I've been listening to the past month. I prefer to listen to music by the album, and I've linked to bandcamp when possible. Metal Violent Creed of Vengeance...
    • Exemplary

    I just joined Tildes, so this is what I've been listening to the past month. I prefer to listen to music by the album, and I've linked to bandcamp when possible.

    Metal

    • Violent Creed of Vengeance by Smoulder - If you like the sound of epic, fantasy themed heavy/doom metal with powerful female vocals, then Smoulder has plenty to offer. Violent Creed of Vengeance is their latest album as well as their best in my opinion. The heavy metal is prominently featured this time around compared to sharing the spotlight with doom in the past. I love the speed and aggression of Violent Creed, but I think the doom undertones are what really make Smoulder stand out.

    • Hive Mind Narcosis by Thantifaxath - Thantifaxath are masters of sinister, discordant, avant-garde black metal. There's just something so weirdly satisfying about Hive Mind Narcosis that I don't know how to put into words. This is definitely a musical niche I would hesitate to recommend, even to other metalheads, but I could listen to it all day.

    • Holoscene by The Ocean - No one does progressive post-metal better than The Ocean. Prog metal itself is already such a vast subgenre that the label has lost much of its identity for me. Holoscene further bends this lacking genre definition by adding a dose of ambient electronica. This fusion fits perfectly with my expectations from The Ocean. I hope the band doesn't completely shift away from metal, but I can't deny that Holoscene is a work of art. It's nice to have a conclusion to The Ocean's long running paleontology series.

    • Terrasite by Cattle Decapitation - Leave it to the vegetarians to deliver existential environmentalism in the form of deathgrind. Cattle Decapitation is back with another absolute ripper. It's always refreshing to hear their longer song lengths for deathgrind, and Travis' varied vocals continue to be an auditory marvel.

    • Black Flame Eternal by Cloak - Cloak is a pretty straight forward black 'n' roll band with gothic elements. However, they are damn good at it. Black Flame Eternal is no exception and definitely their best work yet.

    • Zwielicht by Mental Cruelty - A friend recommended this album to me. I hadn't heard of Mental Cruelty, and I try to listen to new bands chronologically. Starting at 2016, what I found was bland brutal deathcore with the usual guttural vocal noises that I can't help but laugh at. It wasn't all terrible (and improved as I moved along the discography), but I'm not too fond of this style of deathcore. Their 2021 album, A Hill to Die Upon, added symphonic elements and much more diverse riffs. Now they officially had my attention. Then Zwielicht took everything from A Hill to Die Upon, blackened it, and turned it up to 11. It is a phenomenal album, and I'm glad I didn't dismiss Mental Cruelty based off their older material.

    • Flesh + Blood by Judiciary - Judiciary is one of my favorite crossover thrash metal bands. Their previous releases leaned closer to the hardcore side of crossover. Flesh + Blood straight up shreds like there's no tomorrow while brimming with the seething anger of hardcore. It's a combo I can't refuse.

    Jazz

    • Gift from the Trees by Mammal Hands - I absolutely love Mammal Hands. They are such an innovative jazz trio. I've listened to Gift from the Trees so many times. It's fantastic for soothing background noise or times of intense concentration.

    • Opus 127 by New Cool Collective & Alma Quartet - Beethoven's Opus 127 gets a one of a kind makeover in this awesome collaboration between New Cool Collective and the Alma Quartet. This is a fun, unique crossover that I didn't know I wanted. I wonder how Beethoven would react if he was around to hear it.

    Ambient Electronic

    • Dystopia by Lars Bartkuhn - I don't usually listen to this kind of music, so I'm not sure if "ambient electronic" is the right genre to call it. I decided to take a chance on Dystopia and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I can definitely see myself putting it on in the background to relax and unwind.

    Rock

    • Weight in Gold by Whoopie Cat - Whoopie Cat have a wonderful blend of melodic blues rock, vocal harmonies, and heavy guitars. Weight in Gold will lull you with emotional lyrics and vocals, but make no mistake, it riffs just as hard.
    1 vote