Wes's recent activity

  1. Comment on Announcing the Backlog Burner event for November 2025: Shrink your unplayed games list this coming month! in ~games

    Wes
    Link Parent
    That's very cool. I was actually thinking about how Form could work with Golf. There's a lot of hybrid-genre games out there, and it would be interesting to try and find the games that hit as many...

    That's very cool. I was actually thinking about how Form could work with Golf. There's a lot of hybrid-genre games out there, and it would be interesting to try and find the games that hit as many genres as possible. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model in ~design

    Wes
    Link
    I'm pretty pessimistic about this. I bought a Universal V2 license because I want to own my software, and I was happy to support one of the few companies that hadn't moved to software...

    I'm pretty pessimistic about this. I bought a Universal V2 license because I want to own my software, and I was happy to support one of the few companies that hadn't moved to software subscriptions. Sure it's only for AI features now, but how long until they start locking more major features behind the sub? How long until the nag screens become more aggressive, or "sponsored content" starts making its way in?

    I've made a backup of the final V2 installers, and I may just end up using them indefinitely. I've seen how this goes far too many times before to believe it'll be any different here.

    10 votes

  3. Comment on Topic marked for review by admin in ~test

    Wes
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    @Deimos, sending you a ping to review this post, as labels are not available on submissions.

    @Deimos, sending you a ping to review this post, as labels are not available on submissions.

    8 votes

  4. Comment on Announcing the Backlog Burner event for November 2025: Shrink your unplayed games list this coming month! in ~games

    Wes
    Link Parent
    It runs twice annually, in both May and Nov, so don't feel obligated to participate every time! Kefir and I both see it as an event that you can dip in and out of as you see fit. If you're jazzed...

    It runs twice annually, in both May and Nov, so don't feel obligated to participate every time! Kefir and I both see it as an event that you can dip in and out of as you see fit.

    If you're jazzed up to play Pokémon, go play! If you feel the need for a Poké-break, you can pop in and do one or two write-ups. The bingo card is completely optional too, so you can skip that aspect if you don't want to commit to anything larger.

    We'll see ya if we see ya! If not, enjoy the pokermans and we'll catch you next time.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games

    Wes
    Link Parent
    That was absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.

    That was absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Removing obfuscation in Minecraft Java Edition in ~games

    Wes
    Link
    Neat. NeoForge had already moved to Mojang's mappings, so their names won't be any different, but it's nice that they'll no longer need to deobfuscate at all. And for MCP and Yarn mappings, this...

    Neat. NeoForge had already moved to Mojang's mappings, so their names won't be any different, but it's nice that they'll no longer need to deobfuscate at all. And for MCP and Yarn mappings, this will save them a fair amount of effort on each new game update.

    The experience for modders themselves shouldn't be very different, except for the occasional situation where you'd hit an an untranslated string of text. It'll mostly affect the modloader/toolchain devs. It's nice that Mojang are releasing dual builds for now to help them migrate.

    One lesser-known part of the obfuscation step is that it also applied some tree shaking to remove unused code. For example, if localization methods aren't ever called on the server-side, they won't be bundled into that jar. This was usually a good thing for performance and jar size, but occasionally you'd run into a situation where a helpful function was optimized out of the game. So I wonder if that will be affected by this change, too.

    8 votes

  7. Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games

    Wes
    Link Parent
    I almost made the exact same comment, word-for-word. It was in my first draft! If I'd never heard of Chrono Trigger before, I 100% would have believed that a recent AA team made it as a love...

    The game honestly feels like it could be a retro indie darling that released a few years ago.

    I almost made the exact same comment, word-for-word. It was in my first draft! If I'd never heard of Chrono Trigger before, I 100% would have believed that a recent AA team made it as a love letter to JRPGs of yore. It really feels that modern.

    I can agree though about being ready to put the game down by the final act. I absolutely enjoyed my time with it, but sometimes you're ready to move on. October coming to an end probably added some time pressure as well.

    It's interesting how mixed people seem to be on Lavos. It seems like by that point in the game, your build options have really opened up enough so that you can get very powerful if you combine the right items and characters. I'm guessing this made the difference more than levels or anything else. But I'm glad Lavos gave you a proper fight, and a nice send-off for this month's CGA.

    2 votes

  9. Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games

    Wes
    Link Parent
    Great write up. I'm glad you finally got to cross it off your list after all these years! I definitely got a laugh out of some of the character-specific interactions. I remember a tavern denizen...

    Great write up. I'm glad you finally got to cross it off your list after all these years!

    I definitely got a laugh out of some of the character-specific interactions. I remember a tavern denizen talking about an "ugly frog coming through here", but suddenly changing his tune when Frog is in your party.

    I actually didn't realize that Reptite Village quests weren't a part of the original game. That was the only time that I felt the backtracking got too heavy. I guess that just shows that the original team knew well how to avoid padding.

    I was also a fan of how active the combat felt. It kept me engaged, and really made character progression feel much more impactful. Giving a speed capsule to a character actually made them feel faster. It's not like in Pokemon where they occasionally get to go first instead. +1 speed contributes during the entire fight.

    When you get a gear upgrade, it's always noticeable. A helmet giving you 50% more magic damage or resisting all ailments could make a huge difference in combat. There's no 1-2% damage boosts here. Everything uses big numbers, and it tickles my brain.

    My characters were around level 52 when I finished. I probably missed some optional content, but I did the three major side quests at the end of the game. It makes me wonder how low of a level you can actually beat the game at, by utilizing all tools available to you. I bet speedrunners had a blast solving this game.

    4 votes

  10. Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games

    Wes
    Link
    I was excited to see that Chrono Trigger was picked for this month's game. I actually started it on Steam almost two years ago, playing up to dreary 2300 AD (about six hours in). However, I got...
    • Exemplary

    I was excited to see that Chrono Trigger was picked for this month's game. I actually started it on Steam almost two years ago, playing up to dreary 2300 AD (about six hours in). However, I got sidetracked and have been meaning to get back to it ever since. So thank you, CGA, for providing the motivation I needed.

    I spent the month of October playing through the rest, and I'm so glad I did. I finally understand the hype. I'm honestly shocked by how modern it feels, and how well it plays by today's standards.

    Combat

    The semi-real-time combat system feels surprisingly novel for a 30 year old game. It adds a little tension to the moment-to-moment gameplay, but still allows you time to think by pausing during your turn. I did try playing in full real-time briefly, but found it made the game way more difficult than I was prepared for. I'm curious if anybody else stuck with this successfully.

    The game introduces more depth as it goes, with greater emphasis on enemy positioning, damage resistances, and the occasional gimmick (eg. burning away a fiend's wooden hammer). It was interesting to try discovering these gimmicks through experimentation, or to simply learn them from villager dialogue ("Did you know dinosaurs hate lightning? Just thought I'd mention it.").

    Some of my favourite fights leaned into these gimmicks the most. The golem boss, for example, was kicking my butt until I clued in that it was copying my element. I remembered that I'd bought fire-protection gear earlier in the game, so I swapped my team out for fire casters and equipped that armour. This made a huge difference in the fight, and it felt good to be rewarded for implementing strategy.

    Another example was the large bug creature within the desert pit. The fight always started off well, but once the boss's core broke, my team was quickly ground into paste. I realized that I needed to stop attacking the core, but this wasn't enough -- it would drain its own core's health to restore itself. I finally discovered I could heal the boss to keep its core alive longer, allowing me to do enough damage to its other parts. My most frustrating fight turned into my most memorable.

    I did find that towards the late-game, many encounters started turning into "gimmick roulette". I'd find myself asking, "Are you weak to <physical/lightning/fire>?", as I ran through the gamut of damage types. While it arguably added more strategy to these later encounters, I felt it added some tedium as well. It was possible to use a screen-wide attack to test all enemies at once, but this ran the risk of them having a counterattack that could wipe my party in seconds.

    I made pretty extensive use of the auto-battle feature, though mostly between turns to speed up animations. Sometimes I'd accidentally leave it on too long and it'd queue up regular attacks. I mostly relied on techs in the later-game, so using regular attacks could be a liability.

    The game is pretty good about avoiding backtracking, but when it does happen, it can be annoying. Monsters respawn quickly, and doubling back to check alternate paths often meant having to fight through the same baddies I'd just mowed down.

    I suspect I was overleveled for the final encounter with Lavos, because the battle itself was a bit anticlimactic. I enjoyed fighting through the shell (and trying to remember each of the prior boss's gimmicks), but the final form itself seemed a bit... lacking? It didn't require any strategy, and it seemed like the goal was just to dump damage into the right-most flying enemy. I didn't really get it.

    Afterwards, I unlocked the post-game dungeon Dimensional Vortex. The Shadow-Crono boss there was much more dangerous. He could wipe two of my characters from full health in a single attack, and had me scrambling for consumables. Beating him felt like a more satisfying way to finish the game out.

    Characters

    One thing I really appreciate is that every character feels substantial. They each have meaningful progression, a fleshed-out backstory, and contribute unique dialogue as the adventure unfolds. It was tough deciding who to bring because I wanted to see all of their reactions.

    In the end, I ran primarily with Crono, Frog, and Robo (who I renamed to Han-D, from Risk of Rain). Han-D carried me for most of the game, acting as both my healer and screen-clearer. I found the Golden Stud which reduced his MP usage to 1/4th, and allowed me to be far more aggressive with his high-MP techs.

    Frog admittedly wasn't much of a contributor to my team as a secondary healer, but I loved him regardless. It cracks me up that the funny frog man is the true hero and wielder of the legendary sword. I felt like he had to be on my team for that reason alone.

    I did swap in the other characters on occasion. This was made easier due to them leveling in the background, and a lot of gear being character-locked. The only problem was their lack of higher-level techs being unlocked. Ayla turned out to be my most common substitute, and she proved invaluable during the Blackbird stealth section.

    I later learned that Magus joins your party if you choose not to fight him on the cliff edge. Whoops.

    Story and World

    Time travel stories are hard to tell well, but Chrono Trigger nails it. It introduces plotlines across different ages, but manages to keep them digestible. Most stories are self-contained within their respective epochs, but they begin to overlap as the main plot progresses.

    I was impressed by how consistently the game enforces its time-travel rules. Opening a chest in the past also opens it in the future, but not vice versa. You can also bring items between eras to solve problems or effect change in other ways.

    Two good examples are the quests for rescuing the Reptite village and replanting Fiona's forest. These use long time jumps to create impactful changes on the world itself. Similarly, defeating Ozzie erases his legacy in Medina Village. I suspect there are a ton of little secrets buried in this game.

    The pacing feels very natural. The first third of the game introduces you to each epoch, showcasing that era's cast of characters. The middle third opens things up, letting you revisit any discovered portals (though I could never remember where each one went). Finally, the last third gives you the fabulous time machine. This is a major quality-of-life improvement, which gets even better once it gains flight. For all the Doctor Who fans, I named mine The Wimey (since "Tardis" wouldn't fit).

    Despite my original long break, I found the game kept me hooked for most of my playtime. Some moments were heartfelt, and others hilarious. Actually, the game had a ton of humour. The characters played well off each other ("Big frog present? For Ayla eat?"), and even the combat encounters were full of little jokes.

    I enjoyed Dalton's malfunctioning golem, which counted down ominously before getting confused at zero. The sewers were also full of gags, like a fake save point that chimed to lure monsters. Another good one was a sleeping fiend being pelted with a rock to drag them into battle.

    I really liked the cartoon animations they included during key moments. They looked beautiful, and I can't imagine how they included them all on a SNES cartridge.

    I played the game in original graphics, not high resolution. I thought the original pixel art looked great, and found that the smoothing on high-res didn't really add much. If anything, it made the game's gridlines more pronounced.

    The music was also fantastic. I'm sure I've heard many of these tracks before in remixes or YouTube videos, but it's great to experience them in their original context.

    Fin

    Chrono Trigger absolutely stands the test of time. It's well-written, funny, sounds great, and still plays well today. It definitely deserves its accolades.

    After finishing, I glanced at the wiki and learned there were thirteen different endings. That's crazy for a video game from 1995. Even the first ending has five variations depending on your choices. I got 1b: Follow that Cat.

    I won't have time to start on New Game+ mode any time soon (November's Backlog Burner event starts soon!), but would like to replay it someday with a completely different party composition -- and maybe let Magus live this time.

    18 votes

  11. Comment on This site is fast in ~tildes

    Wes
    Link Parent
    It doesn't. It reads like kfwyre's usual upbeat attitude and friendly demeanor. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of accusing others of using LLMs to write their posts, especially on Tildes. A core...
    • Exemplary

    It doesn't. It reads like kfwyre's usual upbeat attitude and friendly demeanor.

    Honestly, I'm not a big fan of accusing others of using LLMs to write their posts, especially on Tildes. A core tenet of the site is to assume good faith in others. By making this comment, it feels like you're either implying the submitter is a spammer, or downplaying their contribution as "AI slop". I find that unfairly dismissive in either case.

    Even in situations where people do utilize LLMs, they often do so to help themselves articulate points they struggled with, or to better organize thoughts. I've used them on occasion to help tighten up text that I felt was too loquacious or imprecise. Many ESL students use them to make their English easier to understand.

    I'm sure you meant well, but try to remember that being accused of being a bot is not a nice feeling, and Tildes is largely free of the kind of spam and promotion you might see on other sites. If you believe that somebody is actually using an LLM inappropriately, you can report their comment to Deimos for review by flagging it "Malice".

    42 votes

  12. Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of October 12 in ~games

    Wes
    Link
    V Rising has once again made its Haunted Nights DLC available for free. It's only available during the Halloween season. It adds some decorative furniture and carpet designs, as well as pumpkin...

    V Rising has once again made its Haunted Nights DLC available for free. It's only available during the Halloween season. It adds some decorative furniture and carpet designs, as well as pumpkin lighting.

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/2169180/V_Rising__Haunted_Nights_Castle_Pack/

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games

    Wes
    Link
    As a modded player, I've been in the mood for some vanilla Minecraft. However, I typically host my own servers and play with a small group; usually just one or two dedicated friends. I think it...

    As a modded player, I've been in the mood for some vanilla Minecraft. However, I typically host my own servers and play with a small group; usually just one or two dedicated friends.

    I think it could be fun to do the same thing with some other active players around. However, I feel like it might be a social faux pas to invite those friends to Tildes specifically to play on the server. I know the goal is to have a space specifically for regulars that frequent this site, and I don't want to abuse the system.

    I'm sharing this just in case I'm completely wrong in my reading. But I'll err on the side of caution in this case and abstain from adding anyone.

    Were I to play, I'd probably be able to start around December.

    6 votes

  14. Comment on Silksong should’ve came with a guide from developers in ~games

    Wes
    Link Parent
    I missed your items 2 and 3 as well. Thankfully, they're not required for 100% completion. On your fourth item, I don't believe that is missable. The original enemy is still available in Act 3...

    I missed your items 2 and 3 as well. Thankfully, they're not required for 100% completion.

    On your fourth item, I don't believe that is missable. The original enemy is still available in Act 3 (try deeper).

    I found this save game analyzer that made it a lot easier to finish up my bestiary. It includes links to a Map Genie site that shows where each enemy can be found. It doesn't cover every category of collectable yet, but gets you most of the way there.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Silksong should’ve came with a guide from developers in ~games

    Wes
    Link Parent
    First, it felt very sudden to me. Acts 1 and 2 weren't exactly short, but the ending seemed to come out of nowhere. It was a very easy boss, and there was no real build up or denouement to that...

    First, it felt very sudden to me. Acts 1 and 2 weren't exactly short, but the ending seemed to come out of nowhere. It was a very easy boss, and there was no real build up or denouement to that point. My actual spoken reaction was "Wait, what?" when the credits rolled.

    Second, the ending itself felt like a "bad ending". Hornet absorbs the Grand Mother's power and starts to transform. Your masks in the HUD turn into 6-eyed masks, and Hornet absorbs an ungodly amount of silk. In the next scene, she's shown insulated inside a cocoon, and begins to painfully grow limbs. It didn't seem right.

    I had the feeling there was more, so I went to the usual haunts (Bone Bottom, Bellhart, Songclave) and asked around. One of the NPCs had some unique dialogue which then pointed me in the right direction.

    Don't get me wrong, I still had some cleanup to do once I finished Act 3. I missed three bosses and an entire area. There's plenty of secrets buried deep! Thankfully, very little of the content is fully missable, so I was still able to max out my upgrades and such afterwards.

    5 votes

  16. Comment on Silksong should’ve came with a guide from developers in ~games

    Wes
    Link
    I also just played through Silksong and loved it. It took me about 70 hours to get 100% and all collectables. The Bilewater bench you mentioned was the one and only time I broke my own rule about...

    I also just played through Silksong and loved it. It took me about 70 hours to get 100% and all collectables.

    The Bilewater bench you mentioned was the one and only time I broke my own rule about spoilers and looked it up. I searched long and hard for the shortcut/bench, knowing there must be one, and was getting way too frustrated with the area.

    Later I kicked myself, because I'd been over that breakable wall 2 or 3 times without seeing it, but I agree it was very well hidden.

    Beyond that though, I thought everything was pretty discoverable. I'll not go into any details because I don't know where you are now, but Act 3 feels pretty signposted posted once you finish Act 2. It took a little experimentation to figure out where to go exactly, but I feel there's enough hints to point you in the right direction. The Act 2 ending feels rather incomplete otherwise.

    Similarly with backtracking, the game does provide map markers for points of interest that you run into along the way. My map was bespeckled with them by the end. I think that mostly eliminates the need for a notebook (though Steam's Notes feature is still very convenient for metroidvanias).

    I hope you're able to enjoy the rest of the game even with these frustrations!

    14 votes

  17. Comment on Tildes Book Club Discussion - September 2025 - Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang in ~books

    Wes
    Link
    This is one of the better story collections I've read. It had a lot of diversity, with each story feeling unique and yet additive to a greater whole. It touched on themes of searching for meaning,...

    This is one of the better story collections I've read. It had a lot of diversity, with each story feeling unique and yet additive to a greater whole. It touched on themes of searching for meaning, human strife, and eventual transcendence.

    I'll share my thoughts on each story.

    • Tower of Babylon: I thought this was a good opener. A bit of a plodding pace at times, but that feeling matched the progression of the climb. I enjoyed the idea of telling a biblical story as if it were real, and exploring the ramifications of that. What would society look like if the tower were real?
    • Understand: I had a little trouble getting into this one. It was an interesting way of trying to interpret super-intelligence, which seems by its nature difficult to describe. I have to admit that I kept expecting the main character to actually be paranoid/delusional, with everything being in their head; particularly when he decides that he must have a super-intelligent nemesis because a few stock tickers went down marginally. The concept reminded me of a Blake Crouch novel, where an interesting sci-fi premise is taken to its logical extreme.
    • Division by Zero: This was definitely the most difficult story. It touches on real themes of hopelessness, and the language used throughout was very personal despite the premise being so abstract. Being unable to explain why you feel so miserable because you just don't have the words is something a lot of people can likely relate to.
    • Story of Your Life: This was my favourite story by a large margin. I find linguistics quite interesting, so the premise of establishing a basic grammar with a responsive but completely unfamiliar species was fascinating to me. I really like how the B-story is told out of sequence, since it blends with the A-story as we learn more about hexopods. The personal tragedy told through the daughter's future history enriches this one further, and really humanizes what was ostensibly a story about aliens. Loved it.
    • Seventy-Two Letters: I liked this one a lot too. The steampunk and old-timey universe was a good break from some of the future stories. The story overall reminded me a lot of Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker, both with the concept of imbuing life into material objects, and by having strict rules behind such a "magic system". The story itself wasn't the most engaging, but I liked the world building and originality. The argument over dextrous automatons taking jobs also felt oddly reminiscent of modern AI arguments, though was perhaps more directly aimed at the industrial revolution.
    • Evolution of Human Science: This one was definitely short. It felt more like a premise for a sci-fi world than a story itself. The author once again plays with the idea that complex concepts require a unique language to describe them. I like that consideration is given to the societal impact of sudden and advanced technology, and asks what kinds of divisions that might create.
    • Hell Is the Absence of God: I enjoyed how this one starts as a normal-seeming story until you've suddenly got angels running amok. It's a great shift of the universal question from "Does God exist?", to "Should I love a God that obviously exists?". Faith is meaningless in this universe. With the ending, I was reminded a little of the Scholar's Tale from Hyperion: is a God that can be so cruel still a God worth loving?
    • Liking What You See: A Documentary: A strong closing story. Judging others on their appearance ("lookism") is of course a real phenomenon, but it's not something we currently consider a form of discrimination. Maybe we should? This story explores that idea from both sides, and I thought made some good arguments both for and against. The framing as an impartial third-party worked really well to that end. I think most people would be turned off by the idea of calli since it's described as a "lesion on your brain". But honestly, would that be a show stopper for parents if it produced better-adjusted children? Right now, over 70% of boys born in the United States are circumcised, undergoing an irreversible surgery in their first months of life. At least with calli, it can be undone in just a few minutes using a techno-helmet. I enjoyed this story, and thought it explored well a major aspect of inequality that our society current just accepts as a given.

    I think I'll be taking October off to return to my own reading for a while, but will return in November for Bob if I can find a copy somewhere (do your thing, sale-posting people!).

    5 votes

  18. Comment on Former FBI director James Comey indicted for making false statement to US Congress and obstruction of justice in ~society

  19. Comment on My take on Apple's Liquid Glass in ~tech

    Wes
    Link Parent
    Yes, I strongly suggest just using prefers-color-scheme or light-dark() and foregoing the JS switcher. Fetching the theme preference via localStorage takes too long, and the page has already...

    Yes, I strongly suggest just using prefers-color-scheme or light-dark() and foregoing the JS switcher. Fetching the theme preference via localStorage takes too long, and the page has already rendered by that point (resulting in a flash).

    It's likely possible to delay the paint, but it's much easier to just follow the system's color preference.

    6 votes

  20. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Wes
    Link Parent
    Not quite, but close. I completely missed the Dragon Priestess questline. I simply took a left instead of a right, and so never encountered her before fighting Bayle. I didn't even realize there...

    Not quite, but close. I completely missed the Dragon Priestess questline. I simply took a left instead of a right, and so never encountered her before fighting Bayle. I didn't even realize there was a questline until after I'd finished and checked the wiki.

    Igon was a great character. I'd have been devastated if I missed his battle cry. FromSoft always have some incredible voice acting, and Elden Ring in particular has so much emotion put into many voice lines.

    Arise now, ye Tarnished. Ye dead, who yet live. The call of long-lost grace speaks to us all.

    Sekiro also deserves mention here, with the first and final bosses having some incredible deliveries.

    3 votes