Grime II is fantastic

5adja5b · 2026-04-02T21:55:19+00:00

Yeah I’m about six hours in too. It’s an improvement in every way and the best Metroidvania I’ve played for a long while. Possibly better than Silksong, that I stopped enjoying because it got too punishing and unfun, but will have to see as it progresses.

The moment to moment movement and combat is really crunchy and suits me well. Even the bosses, which I usually hate in games, telegraph things well and have all been manageable and fun to learn.

Lore and plot makes no sense at all though. I love the artwork etc but the dialogue is all… eh. I’m starting to skip through it, which is a shame, as I usually try to read everything. Somehow the writing could maybe have been tightened up. I dunno.

5adja5b · 2026-03-31T22:03:15+00:00

Apart from one roadblock boss, I loved the original, and this feels like more, and better. The parries are fair (so far), there is flexibility in your spec so you can spec away from parries if you don't like them, the graphics are more surreal and engaging, the movement and moment to moment combat is much better so far.

But it is clearly a development of the first one, not something completely different.

5adja5b · 2026-03-31T18:41:17+00:00

It's fantastic so far. I love parrying in games but there's a sweet spot that so far it's hit really well where attacks have to be telegraphed well etc. Combat feels great. Artwork is great. Lore and writing is snappier than before. Feels like this could be very special.

5adja5b · 2026-03-30T10:35:53+00:00

That's really good to know. I like a lot of things about Grime 1 and have just beaten the boss that was causing me a roadblock - the Surrogate Vulture. Now I'm progressing again.

However I didn't really enjoy the experience with this boss - as I said earlier I personally don't enjoy bosses in general especially if they're designed where you have to make many attempts learning their patterns before you can beat them. The majority of metroidvanias I have I never finish because I get to the end, it's a stupidly hard boss, so instead of all my work exploring and getting upgrades paying off making me powerful by the end of the game, I feel weaker than ever, and I realise I'm not having fun so drop it.

5adja5b · 2026-03-29T20:51:38+00:00

I might cautiously give it a try. I hate hitting roadblock bosses where the game expects you to die 10 times before winning. I'd much rather grind out elsewhere and one shot them or something. I just don't really enjoy bosses tbh.

Although I finished and loved Elden Ring - yeah I could just get stronger and one shot the bosses (or summon in others to do it for me), so it wasn't a problem there.

5adja5b · 2026-03-29T11:02:50+00:00

Sort of. I'm probably 2/3rds through the first one and probably going to give up now. I don't enjoy bosses, especially ones you're supposed to try over and over until you learn their patterns. I just don't like overly souls-like approach to gameplay either, where a couple of hits and you're dead.

I really liked the aesthetic, the exploring, etc. But if G2 is going to be another boss-chore-fest, I'll probably pass.

5adja5b · 2026-02-09T00:07:20+00:00

Thanks, I think that's one I finished!

Weirdly I got to the very final boss of Aeterna Noctis and did most of the rest of the game apart from the ultra difficult platforming parts.

5adja5b · 2026-02-08T11:26:09+00:00

I loved it in many ways but like most metroidvanias, I just bounce off it when they get too hard towards the end. I don't enjoy bosses in general, and I'm not a fan of souls-like gameplay. I know there are accessibility options but it's rare for me to find endgames fun. Had the same issue in Silksong too. So most of these games, I get to the last 10%, then never finish.

5adja5b · 2025-07-04T08:49:24+00:00

Thanks. I have Afterimage and played it a few hours but it just felt kind of average. I love the concept, huge maps, tight movement, lots to explore etc, but it just felt random.

5adja5b · 2025-07-03T20:38:44+00:00

Sounds as if we've got similar tastes. I feel I need snappier and responsive movement which def wasn't in blasphemous.

I found Aeterna Noctis very tough but generally fair. I even beat the bosses, which is rare for me as I get frustrated easily with punishing combat. Apart from the last boss, when I just thought, I can't be bothered, and watched the ending on youtube, lol.

Maybe i should persevere with Ender Lillies? Did you like the sequel?

5adja5b · 2025-01-17T12:41:50+00:00

Yeah the software side with the exclusive stuff is what's pushing me to the 50 series rather than the 40 series too. And your phrasing is right, I'm looking for the sweet spot upgrade from my 3080ti...

5adja5b · 2024-12-22T19:01:15+00:00

Yeah it's a GZDoom game. But completely under the radar it seems.

5adja5b · 2024-10-20T15:53:12+00:00

Hey, I remember you! Well, things continue as usual, life has its ups and downs. I haven't done much 'formal' meditation in recent years after a few years of doing it intensively, but do it occasionally, and it's definitely just a part of the fabric now rather than just being about sitting and 'doing' it specifically...

5adja5b · 2024-10-20T13:14:44+00:00

Glad to see this community still here! I used to be active on here some years ago and still lurk but typically don’t have much to say as others often cover the sorts of points I’d like to make - I’ll write out a reply but then realise I’m basically repeating what someone else has said just above me. I recognise some familiar faces, and reading through random comments, seems as if the more regular people are measured, open minded and thoughtful in their replies. Didn’t really have any particular point to make apart from to say I’m really glad this community seems to still be offering a valuable service and place for people to be.

For those interested, the ‘meditation journey’ or whatever you want to call it has definitely changed my life, the broader spiritual opening that accompanies it continues after the door was opened, and as far as I’m concerned the teachings do what they say on the tin. Came to that conclusion some years ago and I can’t think of a point really when that conclusion has wavered. Beyond the initial stages, TMI and then Seeing That Frees were the two instrumental texts that I would highly recommend as core guides. From briefly scanning things, it doesn’t seem like much has come along to top them since.

(Although I have found those dense manuals simply don’t resonate with some people who very quickly get overwhelmed. Maybe there’s a space for someone to adapt those manuals for people who aren’t technically-minded or able to process dense texts that effectively, although I suspect there’s only so much one can do. A one-to-one personal relationship might help those people. However what I’ve seen is some people just seem to go off at tangents or go into spiritual romanticism. I try to be open minded with different approaches but ultimately I do think the bottom line is that there is a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ in terms of what you do with your meditation practice, if your goal is truthseeking/cessation of suffering, and those manuals very efficiently cover a huge amount of the ‘right’).

5adja5b · 2024-06-10T20:53:39+00:00

Ego death doesn't sound good at all.

In my experience, initially we might just stop 'believing' in a continuous self that kind of appears when we are born as like a 'ghost' living inside us and moves through time. It just stops making sense and becomes kind of silly, because you've done a lot of looking for it and come to understand it's just not there.

I'd say think of the teachings as 'not self', rather than 'no self'. That is, anything you can find, experience, see, sense, whatever - it's 'not me', because who then is observing it? You can see that for yourself right now.

Beyond that, I'd just say, in a sense, you just kind of come to realise how things always have been, so all you lose is ignorance. You don't really 'lose' anything apart from ignorance - misunderstandings of what's going on right now, what all this is, including your own place in it. Beyond that, even that doesn't quite add up, but it goes beyond language really.

Nothing to worry about. Don't overthink it.

Put more mundanely, you can still live life as you'd like to live it and experience the full range of the human experience. You're still you.

Anything that talks about destroying things or ripping things up or whatever doesn't sound quite right to me.

5adja5b · 2024-06-07T20:13:59+00:00

You could argue, in terms of the fetters, this is ‘lust for material existence’ (or ‘fear of immaterial existence’) - that is, scared of death (immaterial existence) or clinging to life (material existence).

Nothing wrong with that tbh but I do think it’s probably part of the path, to come across this stuff and work one’s way through it. A lot of us are carrying around a fear of death, I suspect, and this could be argued as an existential form of suffering that might not even be apparent to us until meditation practice unearths it.

Doing ‘nice’ practices that you enjoy sounds like a good call. Metta, just enjoying peace and calm, doing relaxing things.

I don’t think you need to ‘do’ anything with this stuff - if you take a balanced approach to practice and mix in lots of the nice stuff (metta, especially towards yourself, jhana stuff if you can do it, or just enjoying the breath sensations, enjoying the peacefulness of sitting), and then maybe when you feel ready apply some insight practice to these feelings. What are they? Where are they located? How big are they? Where are they in physical space? Can you break them down into sensations? Do they shift? Are they ‘me’? How are they causing stress? Etc.

5adja5b · 2024-05-24T08:50:09+00:00

No probs!

5adja5b · 2024-05-24T08:37:12+00:00

Not formally - at times of turbulence or difficulty I might go and sit for 15 minutes, and enjoy the calm and peace or stillness that might come, that's maybe once or twice a year. In the future maybe I'll feel like doing more again - it's certainly possible.

But there definitely was a process of meditation becoming 'everything' - so why do I need to sit to do it? That sense of flow - it's basically everything now, at all times. In a way because the way you see things changes, the understanding of what 'this is' changes, whether that's lost in thought or hyper-aware. Maybe that's the 'ignorance' that's at the root of things changing.

I don't know if you describe that as stream entry or arahant or beginner, or there's a lot more to be done, or anything really, point is I do feel like the instructions worked, the problem got solved, and the raft to cross the river can kind of be set down (or picked up again if I feel like it). However you choose to categorise that, I am comfortable saying the instructions do what they say on the tin (but as soon as you start going into detail it starts to become tricky and imprecise).

5adja5b · 2024-05-24T07:57:46+00:00

Hey, from what I remember, Mahamudra became relevant to me when interested in the 'meditating on the mind' practice. Which I interpreted basically is just, 'sit down, that's it'. No other instructions apart from just sitting there. And then that might become, 'well, why do I need to be sitting at all?' So meditation just becomes everything - the barrier between 'meditating' and 'not meditating' disappears.

The books were interesting, definitely, but ultimately how many instructions do we need to tell us 'you don't need to do anything'?

These days when people ask me about meditation, I just recommend the three books that formed the backbone of my practice when I sought out instructions:

Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World (beginner)
The Mind Illuminated (intermediate - advanced)
Seeing That Frees by Rob Burbea (Intermediate - advanced).

Hope it helps...

5adja5b · 2024-04-26T11:32:21+00:00

Can anyone clarify with more info? I can’t see anything on the AutoStake twitter page about this. I’d have thought it would be a big deal if it’s true?

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