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21

Random Chat / Re: What's been happing in our real lives?

« Last post by NewF on June 20, 2023, 04:05:36 AM »

Tried and tried, but to no avail. Had to close the business down unfortunately. Was losing money and not making sales
So now am searching for some sort of work from home job, working remotely from here.
If you guys know of anything, feel free to let me know, money is starting to dwindle down and need to find something sooner than later, haha.

On a lighter note, unlocked a feat of strength not too long ago.
Drove up to a place called Buscalan wayyyyyyyy up in the mountains and got the signature tattoo from the famout tattoo artist "Whang Od". Google search her and you'll see why she's famous. Got pics and vids with her and was a pretty good experience, once in a lifetime opportunity.
IF you feel too lazy to google her, she's a tribewoman, last of her tribe, 106 years old and still to this day does the tattoos. Just an amazing experience.

PS - I subbed to your channel bud.

22

Random Chat / Re: What's been happing in our real lives?

« Last post by Spectere on June 12, 2023, 09:00:07 AM »

I need to check in here more often.

Guess I should probably throw my hat in the ring: I have a (mostly) boomer shooter focused YouTube channel that's getting close to 1000 subs. Yay.

Don't give a fuck!!!

BANNED LMAO.

Hope all has been going well with you guys.
My business is half n half. Thriving, but I need to cater to the customers more for what they want. Simply, rice, chicken, spaghetti. That's what they like the most down here. So I've incorporated Canadian Poutine with their rice meals, because that's what they mainly enjoy down here.  In the end, still with the same girl and everything is absolutely amazing. Loving life and I hope all you sexy motherfuckers are doing good as well. Update me/us on your lives! Would be nice to see how everyone is doing!!

So you're bringing them in with the local cuisine and then hitting 'em with some poutine. Honestly sounds like a good way to do it, and you could end up converting some folks.

23

Gaming / Re: 2023 Still Back Loggin'

« Last post by vladgd on June 06, 2023, 09:04:51 PM »

9. Street Fighter 6 (World Tour mode)



So...unexpected. First time I seen this third person adventure mode thing I went from "the hell is that" to "might be cool" to...couldn't stop playing it when I got my hands on it.

24 hours played to see credits.

This is probably the only fighting game with a good single player mode. Mortal Kombat has been the leader in single player content, but for a proper story mode it's "just get the fight over with so I can watch another neat cutscene". This game has a few cutscenes, characters, a story arc, and it VAGUELY (and I am grasping straws here) kinda does what starcraft did. You have this competitive multiplayer game, and then you change some things up for the single player.

You have your create a character, and you can learn from various "masters" which are the main roster of the game for their moveset. Ontop of that you get to pick and choose which special moves you want to use. You want ryus normals but deejays fireball? You want ryus fireball AND deejays fireball with chun-li's normals? Go ahead! There's leveling, gear, and a skill tree that looks like a tournament bracket which I find cute. You got side missions, multiple areas to run around in, minigames, shops, some areas you could vaguely call "dungeons" albeit small. This is a full fledged rpg with the combat of street fighter 6, and it kinda works.

Before I played this game, people saying "this mode is worth the price of the game alone" I was highly skeptical. However...being as I put 24 hours into the game to "complete" it...yeah that holds up. This mode can't compete with your highly polished rpg games, but the fact that it's as good as it is, with how damn good the core online experience of street fighter 6 is with what I have played, it's nothing short of amazing for the fighting game genre.

As for the online, this mode has been taking up all my online time. I only got ~60 matches in so far, and while you can get some poor connections, I may have had 1? Very good early impressions.

Street Fighter 5 killed my interest for the fighting game genre, guilty gear strive started to reel me in a little bit, dnf duel gave me a few weeks of fun, but this game I think will actually bring me back. Less than a year after sf5 released, I have been waiting for them to pull the plug and make 6 already and it's nice to finally be here, and the game is GOOD!

24

Gaming / Re: 2023 Still Back Loggin'

« Last post by vladgd on May 28, 2023, 08:47:28 PM »

8. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom



O boy, this is a big one. Where to start?

This game should be called "breath of the wild 2" for how similar in structure it is to the previous game. It IS a direct sequel and...does the exact same thing the last one did, albeit, better....in most areas.

First and foremost if you didn't like botw, don't play this game. Whatever was broke in that game like how hard it is to get money, or weapon durability, ain't fucking fixed in this game. Arrows do come by easier however, which is notable.

Similarities. The whole tutorial island thing is the exact same 4 shrines to get your powers in each one, a cold area you need to cook for warm for. You do a main quest in the 4 different race areas for their respective dungeon/power. Each dungeon is structured the exact same "you must get 4 things to fight the boss, then we'll tell you the story of the imprisoning war, and then give you a heart piece and a ring" FORUMLA TO THE T. You fight gannon he has 4 little bosses from the dungeons, if you didn't do those you gotta fight em, if you did, you get a cutscene and can get to the boss. You fight the gannon, after beating him, big setpiece "boss" fight you can't die in.

Koroks? 900 of them in the last game, ONE THOUSAND in this game. I got like 43, fuuuuuuuuuk that.

Shrines? 120something in the last game? ONE FIFTY TWO in this game. I did get like 114, they are too many but they're done better in this game. The ones I liked and disliked the most are the ones that took all your gear and made you kill all the enemies with just the stuff around the shrine, took more effort, but ended up being more fun.

Armor sets most of them are the same as the last game, you end up wanting the barbarian armor like the last game...woulda been cool if you used something else.

Powers? Well this is the main appeal of this game imo, they are actually good. Didn't think I'd like the build a vehicle thing, and it is a bit fiddley, but the powers have good synergy. Overall probably the best part of this game, you actually actively use your new powers and the game expects you to do so. Best thing you can build is 2 fans and a control stick to make what is basically a helicoptor, long as you have the battery, you can get ANYWHERE, and it's really convenient.

The game trailers showed off a bunch of sky islands, this game is already huge, and there's an entire sky layer. Not a "ton" of stuff up there, but more than enough to be it's own map layer. Takes good advantage of your new tools to navigate the skies.

...also not so shown in the trailers is the depths. Which I would compare to blackreach in skyrim, if blackreach was...1:1 the size...of..skyrim...yeah...an entire underground map AS BIG AS THE ALREADY TOO BIG HYRULE MAP...no light, enemies permanently sap your hearts until you get sunlight or eat for recovery (in which you still need to eat to heal proper). It's a cool addition and way too much for me to explore fully.

...and i could go on and on and on...and on, I need to stop eventually. Last thing of importance, I totally exploited item duplication a lot. It make my experience so much better I took my switch offline (because I know they're gonna patch it, and they DID patch it several days ago) to keep my exploits until I was finished. Not needing to worry about my high tier lionel parts made me actually engage in combat instead of run away, having money made me actually buy things instead of forget shops existed. Any edge to get me to chew through this game before street fighter 6 launch (June 2) because this game is just way too goddamn big. I have no idea how it's only 16 gigs, and I have no idea how the nintendo switch can run this thing.

This game is not a 10/10, it's not goty, it doesn't improve on big issues I had with botw...but it's still really fun, the new powers are actually great, and I DID have a meaningfully better time with this game over botw.

I also hope to never play it again, I think I had my fill and it is time to move on. Fingers crossed Nintendo can bring back some of the old zelda magic next rodeo. Gonna end this one before I turn it into a novel. Till next time!
 

25

Gaming / Re: 2023 Still Back Loggin'

« Last post by vladgd on May 10, 2023, 05:53:07 PM »

7. Armored Core: Master of Arena



So...well, these games aren't horribly long aren't they? So uhh, that's it. Third and final Armored Core ps1 release.

I beat the first AC game with around ~13 hours played. Phantasma I didn't 100% but I did all the arena and all but 3 missions in ~5 hours. This game was about 4 hours...but I left most of the disc 2 content on the table. Might go back to do that stuff in the future? But that may be in the farther future because hot games are bout to drop soon.

Despite the short playtime there's 3-4 more missions, and an entire disc 2 with more arena stuff. The arena stuff in disc 2 has you making specific mech types (normal, reverse joint, tank, quad, blablabla) which is cool to keep you from making one god build like I did and recking most of the game.

This game has a different story covering the final boss of the first game, so I think it's a prequel? While project phantasma had the arena as 100% optional, this game has it as a mandatory part of the game. You do missions, then they make you do a little arena, then force you out of the arena to do mandatory mission, then no missions available, till the final mission. Beat final mission, any missions you didn't do are available to 100% at your own time.

I started off Project Phantasma not liking it so much, but after a little while I did end up enjoying it. This game is basically that game, but starts off non linear for the first half, and is extremely linear in the second half. I think I liked this release the least of the 3 personally, the final boss was also...really dumb. Due to the aforementioned VERY POOR controls the final boss is a 1v1 arena style fight which is fine but he's very fast, and uhh I am very slow because I wanted all the big guns. Took me 3 attempts because once he gets up on me, he kills me before I can even turn to face him the turning is so slow in this game. Thankfully the arena is huge and thus the third time I thought to just...boost backwards and unload on him, that one took about 6-7 seconds for me to finally see the credits. Harder final boss than the first game, but less frustrating level? Last level of AC1 has some very very bad platforming, FOLLOWED by two bosses that are in a hard to aim arena...different levels of pain I suppose.

So that's all 3 AC games on the ps1. I more or less went for the path of least resistance when it came to my build. Low mobility, high firepower and stuck with it. Curious if I will play this way in the other games when I get to it. The important part is that I had more fun than I remember having the last time I attempted this series, mission accomplished.

26

Gaming / Re: 2023 Still Back Loggin'

« Last post by vladgd on May 07, 2023, 09:53:45 PM »

6. Armored Core: Project Phantasma



So I decided to play Armored Core 2, err the second armored core game Project Phantasma?

This was cool because there really weren't many games back in the day that had save file transfer between games. I took my 100% completed Armored Core save with my 2 million credits, booted up my save in Phantasma and...they just let you keep your mech, all your parts, and all your money. Alright? No strings attached? Yep!

This game while basically just "Armored Core 1 but...more Armored Core 1" is a little different. First off the missions are very linear with I think 3 parts where you get to choose between two missions. There's a story...and several voiced characters?! However less missions, I think you beat ~14 to beat the game, and the other 3 are the missions you didn't pick when you had to make a choice. The first game had around ~48 or so missions in comparison, so that game wasn't super long, this game ain't that long by half. By half? There's less than half the missions...well this game is the first in the series to introduce ARENA!

So you get the 1v1 ranking arena thing and you start at the bottom and there's like 50 guys to get through. Even using the busted OP laser rifle from the last game...you find out there's a travel time to those blasts and quick mechs can dodge and stuff. Needless to say I had to slightly retune my mech. I like non standard legs, but the "op laser rifle" only works on normal legs probably because it's a large model and wouldn't work with other options, so I went with the big tanky slow normal legs that move like molassas and added a laser canon because if I'm heavy why not add more firepower. Some of these fights are hard, probably the hardest content is in the arena tbh. Anything I couldn't blow up with my laser rifle I had to boost around (mind you I can barely walk with my heavy build) and play this cat and mouse sniping game with my laser canon. Sometimes frustrating, but pretty cool addition. Beating the arena gives you a busted broken "the remainder of the missions you will do in the game will be easy" machinegun, so that's kinda what I did.

I wouldn't recommend this game in a vacuum, if this game was released in the modern era I would consider it a DLC or expansion rather than a standalone game. Play this only if you did everything in the first game and wanted more of that.

Didn't intend to beat this game, but now that I did...the save I took from AC1, to PP, can go to the third and last game in the ps1 series of Armored Core games, Master of Arena. I have again no intention to beat that game, but if the difficulty isn't too much and I got the time before the 12th...might give it a shot.

Last thing I want to air out is there's a lot of Armored Core games, I have known about them and even played the heck out of the demo of the first game as a kid. Pretty cool to finally start seeing the origins of this long running series for myself, and again despite...questionable controls I am vaguely starting to get used to, I'm still enjoying myself quite a bit here.

27

Gaming / Re: 2023 Still Back Loggin'

« Last post by vladgd on May 05, 2023, 01:10:44 AM »

5. Armored Core



With Armored Core 6 coming out in...~3.5 months, I am unreasonably hyped.

I have played this game as a kid, the demo, with 3 missions you would play over and over and get money to upgrade your mech. Later in ~2014 I had tried to play this game again and struggled with the really dated bad controls (the controls are THE thing that deterred even kid me from this franchise), and a labyrinthine mission that has you in a maze with 5 bombs to plant...and everything is poison so you constantly take damage.

Decided to try AGAIN and gradually chip away till I did it. That said, this game structure is kind of weird. You get the same few missions to start, but they are kind of random how they serve them to you. I remember getting the moonlight blade last time but not seeing the final mission. This time I did not receive the mission to get the moonlight blade and got the final mission...didn't really need it  because the laser rifle is god tier in this game, but still.

This game suffers from god freaking awful controls(left and right on the d pad is turn left/right, l1/r1 are strafe left and right, l2 is look up...r2 is look down)...and...I still had a good time. This game is pretty fun, decent enough mission variety, the mech customization is fun, the "bleak everything sucks you're just taking missions for the $$$ even if it means going against your previous contractor" it's just a cool game.

I don't think I'm gonna play ALL the games before 6 because...I just ain't, but this was the big one on my bucket list, and it has been beaten. Now...after beating the game any missions you didn't get served you can just do, or farm easy missions for money because you can reselect them. Pretty cool reward for completing the final mission if you wanted to buy more parts and whatnot.

28

Gaming / Re: 2023 Still Back Loggin'

« Last post by vladgd on April 26, 2023, 03:59:43 PM »

Advance Wars (1+2 Re-Boot Camp)



So another turn based strategy game that apparently only I give a shit about just came out. I wish these games were more popular but the first con I'm about to mention will probably not help.

Just gonna get it out of the way, the "online play" is trash. I mean it's probably good? You can make custom maps and play online...with some caveats. FRIENDS LIST ONLY, if you don't have anyone on your friends list with the game booted up, may as well be offline. No matchmaking, anyone not on your friends list, no online. Also if you do have a few people to play, it's 1v1 only and only certain map sizes allowed. This game has all of the old 2p, 3p, and 4p maps the originals had, and those 3p/4p maps are for local play only. Figures the one thing you couldn't do on the originals, online multiplayer...you can't do in this game.

That said if you are spoiled and have irl friends who like advance wars (whatever bizarro world this hypothetical person lives in) you got multi system or single system multiplayer for local play like the originals had, except you can play on a big tv now instead of the tiny gba screen. Unfortunately I won't be able to experience this...at least I can play the CPU in those maps.

Cons aside...it's the first two advance wars games, and they're mostly faithful to the originals. I've only completed the first advance wars campaign, which "unlocks" the second campaign. However if you just want to jump into 2, it's not really gated off and they'll warn you about spoilers but let you in if you only wanted to play the second one.

They streamlined unlocking characters, instead of the weird campaign requirements of the originals, you unlock the right to buy them in the shop after certain missions, no strings attached. Once you complete a campaign, you can go back for higher scores without needing to restart a new campaign again which is a really nice change. ALSO certain parts in the campaign you pick between a few missions which you can pick one and ignore 2, you can go back and finish the branches you didn't select after completing a campaign, another very nice change.

If I was rating the single player stuff I'd rate this remaster as an A+...but with the extreme low effort put into the online I would have to lower the overall package to a B. I don't care about competitive play at all, but just messing around playing matches online, or even 2 players vs 2 cpu's would be a lot of fun online...but it's just not something they had in mind.

I intend this game to be a slow burn, one of those games I go back to every now and then due to it's bite sized nature. So I am very happy it exists, but I do hope they add even barebones basic matchmaking and the ability to play those 3p/4p maps online. Not counting on it, but anything's possible right?

29

Random Chat / Re: What's been happing in our real lives?

« Last post by NewF on April 22, 2023, 04:12:50 PM »

Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.
Don't give a fuck!!!
Hope all has been going well with you guys.
My business is half n half. Thriving, but I need to cater to the customers more for what they want. Simply, rice, chicken, spaghetti. That's what they like the most down here. So I've incorporated Canadian Poutine with their rice meals, because that's what they mainly enjoy down here.  In the end, still with the same girl and everything is absolutely amazing. Loving life and I hope all you sexy motherfuckers are doing good as well. Update me/us on your lives! Would be nice to see how everyone is doing!!

30

Gaming / Re: 2023 Still Back Loggin'

« Last post by vladgd on March 13, 2023, 06:17:15 PM »

Metroid Dread 1000% Complete



I beat dread mode but didn't 100% dread mode...considering you die from any damage it makes 100% dread mode harder than low%. The first time I beat the final boss it took me like...literally..40+ attempts over 2 days. This time, I made an idiot mistake on the first try, and killed him the second try. I'd like to think I have achieved mastery of this game...ignore those deaths though...any sneeze = game over.



I don't even care anymore, this game is 10/10. No game is perfect, but jesus this game is close.

*edit*

Wasn't even trying to go fast, wasted a good few minutes dicking around because I was just playing for fun...but 3:10 Hard mode.