Alright. Go ahead and die of cringe or tell me to. We’re going to talk VTubers.
I, within the past year, have dropped my prejudices and gotten into several VTubers’s content. I don’t really watch Twitch so I’m relegated to watching clips and archives on YouTube. And I’ve learned some things that I think are worth discussing.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Cringe Culture is Dead Continued – VTubers”
More Balders Gate 3.
We only played our honor mode game this week. It was going well for the most part, we started act two, and since we were over leveled, we cleared out a lot of the enemies including the three Thorm fights. Unfortunately the fight at the inn went bad, and a very important NPC got killed, so effectively every NPC died. We did manage to survive that whole ordeal, and continue for awhile longer, even clearing out moonrise. But the run came to an end, while fighting Ketheric, a combo of bad rolls, and poor choices, led to the end of a fifty hour game. Anyway we’re starting again, right after I’m done writing this.
How’s everyone else doing this week?
Having detailed the seeming completion of the Halloween film series, we return to the seminal year of 1988. Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers would be released in October. Refocusing the story on Laurie Strode’s daughter and Michael’s niece Jamie Lloyd would come to be appreciated in the future, but at the time was considered only a marginal financial success and narrative disappointment. Only two months before A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master had been a huge success, earning nearly $50 million off a budget of about $6.5 million. As we’ve seen often in the Friday the 13th series, that 10:1 return (nearly, in this case) is almost magical. Part 4 is a direct sequel to Part 3: The Dream Warriors and continues the themes introduced there. This brings back the character “Kristen” from the previous movie, although she would hand off her “final girl” status to “Alice” (literally; she “gives” Alice her ability to bring other people into her dreams) before Kristen’s on-screen death.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Horror Slasher Evolution: Jason and Freddy Follow Suit”
Another Magic the Gathering set, another Magic the Gathering prerelease. I try to attend each prerelease because it’s a really fun environment to play with new cards in a format that rewards creativity and a deep understanding of the card game itself. The events tend to be a good value for your dollar as well so crowds tend to show up. But this time around I was struck by something. You see, unlike the past 2 sets, WotC decided to return to their own IP. Wild, I know. But that’s not the crazy part. The crazy part is that it was the busiest and most crowded I’ve seen at my local game store. WAY more crowded.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Fortnite, Magic the Gathering, and Why They Could Spell Doom”
This week is just Balders Gate 3.
Only a bit into act three so far, I don’t think we’ve gotten into the city properly. So far we’ve fought a clown, I angered a genie and got teleported to a jungle full of dinosaurs, and helped solve a murder.
We didn’t actually get that far, because we also started an honor mode playthrough, so no loading if there’s a mess up and if the whole party dies it’s over. To make things easier we’ve kept one party member at camp to resurrect everyone if there’s a party wipeout. It does cost money to res people and it obviously has the drawback of only three characters in a fight instead of four. We’re currently in the underdark, and about to finish the first half of it. The biggest challenge so far was getting to level four. There are a lot of fights that are too dangerous to do at level three on this difficulty, but needed to be done to get that level.
What’s everyone up to this week?
For the first time in a month, maybe six weeks; I feel healthy. No cold, no sinus infection, nothing else out-of-the-usual. It’s a real shame the *rest* of the family is sick now. The only thing I’m pretty sure I contributed is the cold that almost everyone got over pretty quick. I’ll be mostly out-of-town the later part of this upcoming week to help my parents deal with my father’s surgery. He’ll be in the hospital for at least a couple of days. He has normal hydrocephalus; this is more-or-less what used to be called “water on the brain,” although it is understood better now. “Water on the brain” may be a decent enough description of what’s happening, but only recently have doctors been able to start more precisely identifying symptoms, damage, and methods to remedy the problems. Even then, being able to drain the fluid away in a controlled, automated way only improves *certain* things, and it certainly can’t reverse some of the damage.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Back In The Groove”
So here’s the deal. Everyone wants to be perceived as cool. We can all pretend we’re above it but at some level we don’t want some people to know some things. If people somehow found out you were into that thing, ya THAT one, what would happen? Your whole facade of normalcy or even badassery might disappear. Maybe they would stop talking to you. Maybe they would hate you.
No. That’s dumb. Stop being dumb. Nobody cares. And if they do care, they can fuck off. Their opinions don’t matter. I know this. You know this. So why does it still feel weird to discuss certain hobbies, shows, and even music?
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Cringe Culture is Dead, Long Live the Cringe”
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What makes this borderline indie title so much better than the AAA juggernauts that came before?
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Everyone hates Black Friday sales. Even retailers! So why does it exist?
T w e n t y S i d e d
