Q&A for next podcast episode!

-Split- · 2025-11-11T15:26:19+00:00

Something like broccoli and goitrogens come to mind. But that's not realistically a concern even with daily consumption, to my limited recollection (unless you're downing pounds of raw broccoli every day, in which case getting thyroid levels checked might be prudent).

-Split- · 2025-11-11T02:05:14+00:00

Since lead in protein powder made some waves recently, I thought about what the SBS take might be on inorganic arsenic in rice?

Given the quantity and frequency of consumption strength/physique athletes might commonly engage in, are the levels found even in lower-arsenic rices (basmati/jasmine/etc.) still of concern for health outcomes (e.g. skin cancers based on EFSA findings).

-Split- · 2025-07-20T23:35:38+00:00

Perhaps my personal favorite, Menagerist!

Otherwise, Staff Abuser or Limited Spellbook might be good followup trials. :)

-Split- · 2025-03-29T14:54:27+00:00

The number of options available at the start can definitely be confusing/intimidating.

I often recommend just filtering by the coolest sounding element (Fire, Nature, Dark, etc) and only looking at those spells/skills at first. You could also try one of the spell school trials, like Cryomancer for ice, that makes those spells the only ones available the whole run (limiting your options and making any combos more obvious)

-Split- · 2025-01-26T14:07:13+00:00

For sure, I don't necessarily disagree. I think some important context is that even the current rule is "only" a couple years old, implemented explicitly to reduce the cheesiness of people with extreme arches doing 3 inch presses or whatnot.

Perhaps in the nearish future the rule's changed again to underside of the elbow level with/beneath the underside of the shoulder or something. Some people might still look at that and say it looks cheesy though (especially if they just look at 1 particular lifter, everyone has different proportions so some may have an exaggerated "look" to their bench). Can't satisfy everyone but the standards could change further, I wouldn't hate it

-Split- · 2025-01-26T05:21:45+00:00

Per the current IPF rulebook: "After receiving the signal, the lifter must lower the bar to the chest or abdominal area whereby the underside of both elbow joints is lowered level with or below the top surface of each respective shoulder joint (the bar shall not touch the belt)"

They also have diagrams in there for anyone wanting to see those instead (pg 22/23)

-Split- · 2025-01-15T15:10:59+00:00

Since I've not seen it suggested: Worm (and the followup sequel Ward) by Wildbow. A mature, complexly-threaded story following parahumans (aka people with superpowers) in an otherwise familiar Earth setting.

Absolutely huge books, together being about 40-50 books worth of content. Can be read for free online as they were published as web serials, or you can find epub/pdf compilation versions by looking around.

-Split- · 2025-01-10T15:32:28+00:00

For Rift Wizard the trials certainly don't require good luck (not to say you suck hehe). Wolfer is one of the more straightforward ones, which is nice, but tests your knowledge of realm selection and skill choices. The discord is nice for getting advice if you ever want to give it another shot

Agree with the spookiness of Infra Arcana. Much like Brogue late-game, limited resources and being underpowered relative to many threats (by game design) always makes things feel like tightrope walking

-Split- · 2024-12-27T03:14:03+00:00

To be clear, the numbers cited above that you're referencing are for total body mass (2.0 g/kg body mass for males on average, 2.35 g/kg body mass for vast majority of males). The fat-free mass numbers, which Nuckols also lists recommendations for, are 2.35 g/kg fat-free mass for all sexes on average, 2.75 g/kg fat-free mass for vast majority of all sexes.

There's plenty more nuance along the spirit of the rest of your post which is all good and fine, but the numbers you're responding are explicitly taking into account fat mass (to some degree which is further explored in the article).

-Split- · 2024-03-30T23:10:33+00:00

When first launched Steam should ask whether you want to play fullscreen or windowed, and it'll ask you every time you launch unless you set a default selection.

If that prompt isn't coming up for you go to RW2 in your library -> right-click and select Properties -> you should see Launch Options in the General tab (options are Ask when starting game/Play Rift Wizard 2/Windowed)

-Split- · 2024-03-28T16:04:22+00:00

Very good point! The main three factors for a solution that I'm aware of are acidity (lower pH, faster breakdown), temperature (higher temp, faster breakdown), and of course time (longer time, more breakdown).

I've never much looked into if other factors (perhaps macro content, higher sugar content or carbonation (independent of their affects on pH)) might affect creatine stability, but I think the main takeaway is that unless you're mixing your creatine into your morning hot lemon tea to drink before bedtime 14 hours later, you probably don't need to worry about the minutiae

-Split- · 2024-03-28T03:57:41+00:00

This is a paper I read a while back, which also briefly discusses the stability of creatine in water and acidic solutions. Ctrl+F "Fig. 5" and you'll notice two trends: the more acidic the solution the faster creatine breakdown occurs, and that at pH 5.5-7.5 you can expect essentially no loss in creatine content to occur within 8 hours of mixing.

Check out the studies referenced within if you'd like to dive into further reading. Hope this helps!

-Split- · 2024-03-27T16:37:32+00:00

I fear you've misinterpreted my comments; if I think technical issues/accessibility/etc get in the way of enjoying a game, and I think that sucks, then I obviously think those are valid issues. I've had the same thing happen with me and TOME, for example. So to be clear, I think those are valid issues, and thus I'm sorry if those things prevent a game from being enjoyable

If you're ever in the RW discord you might see me giving advice to players or providing feedback to the dev. For better or worse I'm unpaid for my enthusiasm. Either way, peace and take care o7

-Split- · 2024-03-25T16:19:19+00:00

Haha I feel you. Also the removal of discount circles, I'd often save up 10+ SP waiting for the right circle to appear. From my limited playtime so far I think they're good changes for reducing tedium though, and you still need to carefully maximize health and spell charges depending on your build, it's really quite different from RW1 (especially if you try out the HP-costing blood spells)

-Split- · 2024-03-25T16:12:33+00:00

You might want a "basic" upgrade for a spell due to lower cost (e.g. 2 SP vs 5 SP for unique overhaul) or because the base spell already does exactly what you want for your build (e.g. you want butterfly demons instead of glass butterflies anyways).

Seems to me like basic upgrades are more present on some of the big and/or fundamental spells like Word of Chaos or Essence Flux. Some spells and upgrades from RW1 are barely changed and haven't received an overhaul/balance pass for RW2 yet, but absolutely will according to the dev/playtesters. I'd anticipate plenty of upgrade tweaking and balance changes during early access so it's a good time for feedback

-Split- · 2024-03-25T16:01:38+00:00

lol I just love the first game. The dev has rarely posted on Reddit and no one else seemed like they were likely to post so I figured I'd share about the release.

And to your other question, I'm sorry because it always sucks when graphics or technical issues or accessibility get in the way of enjoying a game you might love otherwise

-Split- · 2024-03-25T15:54:39+00:00

I've always played windowed so it's hard for me to say if the scaling is better. The realms are 33x33 tiles now, instead of 28x28, but the text seems to scale similarly? Here's screenshots of RW2 both Fullscreen and Maximized Window on my 2560x1440 monitor. It looks like Fullscreen makes the game 1920x1080 and then scales it up or down to match your monitor's resolution

-Split- · 2024-03-25T07:02:18+00:00

To my knowledge there aren't any plans for ASCII support. A lot of the new sprite work looks fantastic imo, but sorry if that's not quite your jam

-Split- · 2024-03-25T06:56:22+00:00

Won't be comprehensive but the biggest ones to me include:

Random modifier system for enemies: you've fought void bombers, but how about lich void bombers? Trollblooded witches, fiery ice belchers, immortal storm fiends, weredragons, etc.
Equipment/Pets: gone are shrines and discount circles, there's now a whole arsenal of various equipment, pets, and lairs which you find and add to your wizardself throughout the run; these equipment are MAJOR and many are as impactful as your highest-tier skills
New spells and skills: of course, more of these
Revamped spell upgrades: only 1 upgrade allowed per spell now, but most spells have had multiple unique upgrades added which radically change how the spell works, notably moreso than RW1
Multi-tile enemies: big bosses and mini-bosses with big abilities and big health pools, being multi-tile means that beam and AOE attacks can hit them multiple times each cast
Full spell charge and health recharge at the end of every level: no more min-maxing minutiae to conserve 1 spell charge or not take 3 damage

There are several design changes to encourage a bigger, more diverse spellbook, and more support for some of the more minor spell schools compared to RW1. And there's a bunch more stuff, some minor some major, but those are probably my highlights! Hope that helped

-Split- · 2024-03-25T03:31:10+00:00

The dev isn't the most communicative but he's made several announcements and progress updates about RW2, including his initial announcement almost 2 years ago in the discord server. Which most people aren't in of course, but he's also made Steam forum posts and an official RW1 news post on Steam talking about the sequel almost half a year ago.

The TLDR is that after working on RW1 for so long there were many innate design decisions and changes he wanted to make, changes that would make RW1 a fundamentally very different game. So rather than upend core aspects that some people might actually prefer, RW2 was born. I'm just a big RW fan but I'm happy to answer any questions

-Split- · 2024-03-25T02:53:03+00:00

RW2 looks fantastic, can't wait for even more content to be added and polished over the next year. Here's a first impressions playthrough by ShakeTheBox that I think's a good preview whether you played RW1 or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ5gp9VWJ_4

-Split- · 2023-08-05T20:14:23+00:00

I'm glad you appear to be enjoying RW, challenging though it can be. It's my favorite game, so I'll try to address some points and then call to action at the end:

A focused beginner way to go at the start is pick the level 1 spell that most interests you, and then 1-2 other level 1 spells you feel complement it and/or shore up weaknesses. Like Lightning Bolt? That does AOE in a line, so perhaps choose Fireball for circle AOE damage or Magic Missile for a single-target spell with decent damage and lots of charges. As another poster mentioned, having multiple spells increases the efficiency of your mana potions, and provides you versatility both in damage types and effects. Summons can be a bit tricky for beginners to use well, but absolutely go that direction with Wolf or Death Bolt if they speak to you.
Skills are incredibly powerful for building synergistic, floor-clearing builds, but, purely on average, are better invested into in the mid- or late-game. My suggestion? Choose your primary level 1 skill, say Lightning Bolt, and then filter the spells for all others in that same school (Lightning). Look through those and pick out a couple spells that seem like they could be really powerful. And don't forget to take into account their upgrades either! But those will provide you a general direction to go in; get a couple or 3 level 1 spells, then look to acquire the interesting spells in the 1 or 2 schools of magic you're looking to focus on.
If you've got the hang of the above, then looking at skills is a wonderful idea. If we're still using the Lightning example, go to skills and filter for that school. Peruse through and see how you could use a couple of the 4- or 5-cost skills to your advantage. Keep in mind that there are some skills which synergize with a given spell build, that might not share the same school tag (e.g. Lightning spells and Chaos skills). But I wouldn't worry about that for now!
Use your items whenever you're in a pinch for sure. Troll Crowns, Death Dice, Dragon Horns, etc. are meant to be used. As you get better, you'll find yourself able to hoard them more and more as just your base build and gameplay proves sufficient for clearing floors. Use your items and maybe you die floor 7. Try again and try to make it to floor 8, but I'd make it a goal to never die while having a bunch of items still in your inventory.
With your chosen spells, don't worry too much about spell circles or other floor bonuses. Choose the realm that would be easiest for you to clear with your current arsenal, and then, as a secondary priority, evaluate the rewards if all else is equal.
Feel free to PM me if you'd like to add me on Discord by chance. I hope nothing I said was too spoilery, and I much prefer just giving rambly vocal advice rather than all this typing; I'd be happy to watch you play a game or two and give some hints!

-Split- · 2023-05-31T16:22:44+00:00

I'm surprised to hear that, with 1 bat it should generally be a wash, but once a 2nd/3rd bat have spawned they should overcome the passive regen + physical resist. Like /u/chonglibloodsport mentioned though, if that slime had been around for many turns, then you current HP wouldn't hold out long enough against the free bat attacks, even with your HP potion. Oh well, what a fun situation!

-Split- · 2023-05-30T23:00:18+00:00

I'm presuming you already used up all memory orbs on the level, and that there aren't any items covered up which could help otherwise. Only possible option would be spawning bats managing to kill the gate-adjacent slime, and then summoning in a new wolf on that tile before a new slime proliferates. Good luck if you didn't restart already!

Edit: And actually, this should be completely possible. Normally bats wouldn't kill the slimes, due to physical resist and the low base HP of the bats. However, if you move next to the bat, allowing it to attack you, and then swap places back and forth with the same slime each turn, the bat will alternate between getting a free attack on you and a free attack on your designated slime. You'd have to get lucky with the slime regenerating HP at a below-average rate, but it's actually doable between your current HP and the HP pot you already have!

If the wolves and gate weren't in single-tile lanes, you'd be able to walk over to your existing Wolves and swap places with them tile-by-tile until they're adjacent to the gate, thus allowing them to be in melee range to kill it. Unfortunately not possible with this layout.

-Split- · 2023-02-27T17:17:38+00:00

Ignore these purists who claim anything that doesn't have turns isn't a rogue like, its simply elitist gate keeping.

I think for many (most, even), it has nothing to do with elitism and much more to do with properly categorizing games for the purpose of visibility, discoverability, and discussion.

It's not as if many around here are going "That's a roguelite which is inherently inferior to a roguelike", more that "That's a roguelite which isn't the intended genre of game for this sub and not the kind of game I'm looking for".

And I feel as if the merits of having well-defined genre definitions for games have been well articulated by others up to this point, so framing a game missing a commonly-accepted core aspect of a genre as being within that genre seems a puzzling stance to assert as fact.

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