I’m feeling a bit better this week, so a bit of games where played.
I finished most of Dave the Diver. I still don’t like some of the boss fights, but other than that, it’s just a really good game.
I’ve also been playing a bit of Stardew Valley with my sibling while recovering. Just as good as ever, nice chill farming, stressful mining, and obligatory fishing minigame. So, that’s been most of my week.
What’s everyone else doing?
I have finally reached The Mines of Moria in Lord of the Rings Online. This was the first expansion to the game, released at the end of 2008. This expansion is what prompted me to even try the game. I logged in for the first time in 2009. Never could stick with it. I’ve even talked about two tries here on Twenty Sided. And I finally entered the mines in 2026. I am, I think, about halfway through. Still learning all the aspects of disenchanting and Legendary Items, which first come up in this expansion and apply for the rest of the game, apparently. What’s next? I was never all that interested in the next expansion, Siege of Mirkwood…but I have to admit that’s mainly because *I missed it*. Didn’t even know it existed. There are some fascinating stories in Mirkwood, although I have no idea how they might be handled. (The Hobbit movies (the del Toro/Jackson trilogy) kind of make a mess of the Necromancer plot, IMO.) But overall I am looking forward to that expansion now. The Isengard, Rohan, and Helm’s Deep expansions don’t do anything for me. Looking through the various stories they cover (just) now does show some things I’m interested in, however. Well, Helm’s Deep does, although it occurs to me they could all be part of the “Epic Battle” system that expansion introduced. And which I’m *not* interested in. Some of the newest stuff sounds interesting. I also really want to visit Erebor and the Dale-lands, but I honestly don’t know how right now. I don’t even know when it was added to the game. Logically it would be near Mirkwood, but I’m pretty sure the handful of quests I’ve seen for The Lonely Mountain are over level 100, and Mirkwood is gonna be something like 70’s.
Made a strawberry pie last night that DID NOT work out. I’m just now learning how to bake pies and am starting with pre-made pie crusts. Dylan Hollis mentioned something about “using pre-made is fine; you can always make your own if you like that kind of low-level anxiety” and I want NOTHING to do with that. But last night’s lesson was that blind-baking a pie crust requires a weight in the bottom or the crust will shrink A LOT; and only use a big pie plate if the recipe SAYS it needs a big pie plate. Otherwise your pie crust and subsequent pie will do just fine in the regular, smaller, pie plate. (the pie is delicious, by the way)
And now we return to Girls und Panzer: The Anzio Battle is (not) Next!
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Girls und Panzer: The Anzio Battle is next!”
Today I received a Blu-ray drive from Amazon that I’m going to flash the firmware of to give it the ability to read and rip 4K Blu-rays. Why am I doing this? Well I’m jumping through all of these hoops because there’s no straightforward way to do what I want, but also, I’m all about physical media. I have most of my favorite movies on disc, preferably Blu-ray, preferably on 4K if available. I also almost never pull those discs out of their cases to watch their contents. I stream it from whichever service my show or movie is on, or, more commonly, just stream it from my Plex server. All of this is to say, I want to backup my physical media to my media server.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Physical Media and Why It Matters”
Geralt, and Witchers in general, are thoroughly defined throughout the first 3 games, but some details about everyone else were omitted. The upcoming DLC “Songs from the past” implies we might be playing in some kind of flashback. (Maybe?) If so, and since Ciri is taking over the narrative, I have a feeling what this might be about. So, a few important details. Or probably some completely irrelevant ones that I feel like talking about. Because we’re all dorks and nerds, and geeking out over the obscure details of fictional characters is what we do. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “About those books….”
This week was nothing.
the first few days I was busy, and the last few days I’ve been sick. Just a lot of laying on the couch, and watching YouTube.
What’s everyone else doing? Hopefully not being sick.
After episode 5, Girls and Panzer ran a recap episode of the previous five entries. A “the story so far” summary that honestly wasn’t needed. If I remember correctly there were rumors of technical difficulties or budget control issues that had to be addressed. I mentioned previously that the practice battle against St. Gloriana had some strange inconsistencies, the main one getting addressed later. That is, Miho pointing out the problems with Momo’s strategy against St. Gloriana seems to be addressed in Episode 3 when Miho is put in charge, but then is brought up again AFTER the battle, in Episode 4 when Anzu says maybe they ought to leave strategy to Miho in the future. This “part two” of the Saunders battle will feature some other interesting tidbits. There’s still the issue of Miho’s self-confidence to contend with. This will come up weirdly twice in a row, only seconds apart. But also there are some bizarrely-high-quality-animated scenes, almost randomly. For those who don’t know, and I won’t speak for anime in the 2020’s, only the 2010’s and before (because I know those eras pretty well) animation isn’t necessarily always done “in house.” Usually some is, but often a portion or even most of a series’ run is contracted out. Sometimes *all* of it is. The opening song animation is typically allocated more time, which of course means more money. That’s your prime advertising media and the first thing most viewers ever see once the series has started. You then spend extra time (money) on the FIRST episode, or at least important scenes, because; again, that gets people’s attention. What remains of the budget is then spaced out for the remaining episodes. Good producers and directors know ahead of time what scenes will take extra effort (money) and which scenes can be “skimped” on. Distance shots, for example, don’t need the extra effort and can be completed faster. Where tension frequently arises in *action* anime is high-movement scenes with unimportant details. The motions have to look good, or good enough, but there isn’t anything vital to impart to the viewer. Along with that, close-ups and reaction shots frequently have very little movement, but expressions have to have the detail to clearly distinguish a character and convey emotion. Episode 6: Our first battle comes to a climax! seems to have examples of poor budget management. In my opinion, of course.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Girls und Panzer: Our first battle comes to a climax!”
As stated in a previous article, I’ve been enjoying The Punisher on and off. It’s not super deep, but it’s a really fun show. “Angry PTSD soldier decides that the justice system doesn’t work and takes the law into his own hands” is a formula I tend to enjoy and The Punisher is one of the OGs for it. Even given all that, there is somehing that keeps pushing me away from the product entirely.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The PG-13 Rating And Its Analogs Are A Mistake”
A screencap comic that poked fun at videogames and the industry. The comic has ended, but there's plenty of archives for you to binge on.
I called 2019 "The Year of corporate Dystopia". Here is a list of the games I thought were interesting or worth talking about that year.
People were so worried about the boring gameplay of The Old Republic they overlooked just how boring and amateur the art is.
This series explores the troubled history of VR and the strange lawsuit between Zenimax publishing and Facebook.
Here are 6 reasons why I forbid political discussions on this site. #4 will amaze you. Or not.
Do you like electronic music? Do you like free stuff? Are you okay with amateur music from someone who's learning? Yes? Because that's what this is.
The true story of three strange days in 1989, when the last months of my adolescence ran out and the first few sparks of adulthood appeared.
What was the problem with the Playstation 3 hardware and why did Sony build it that way?
Which would you rather be: A king in the middle ages, or a lower-income laborer in the 21st century?
Here's how this site grew from short essays to novel-length quasi-analytical retrospectives.
T w e n t y S i d e d
