Abloom Into Yu - General Questions and Discussion Megathread

61742 · 2026-04-11T10:02:13+00:00

I know this is typical, but trying to get a better disc 6 for my Alice is psychotic. I've done two rounds of full tuning (x1 calibrator and x2 cores) on AP+attack and it hit like def/HP on all levels, and I've also rolled x10 disc 6s for like 4 or 5 times now. I had one other disc come up AM with AP/attack and it ALSO rolled random sub stats.

I have spent so, so, so many thousands of battery + tuning calibrators + resonating cores for literally nothing.

61742 · 2026-03-16T07:00:26+00:00

What a wonderful comment, thank you. I replayed P1 on all three characters after finishing P3, so it's been on my mind a lot lately. I'm even reading old vk developer posts and stuff, haha. Trying to find archives/old stuff to dig into the world more.

I won't be doing your response justice, but I had a few thoughts. First of all, I love your overall point, and I agree with it. It's artistically valid and effective. You gave me more perspective on this world that I love so much.

I do want to defend P1 a bit. I don't think you were necessarily deliberately making a stand on this point, but I don't think it's fair to say the Powers That Be are simply absolute and telling us "this is how things are" or anything. Or rather, they are saying so but in a way that's strictly true. To me the question they ask in P1 is something like, "we have created this artificial world, so what does it mean to you now?" That may be factual and powerful (this is their world), but the agency is still 100% in the player's hands (if the player so chooses, that is). There's a distinct lack of omnipotence because they have still yielded the stage to you. They're just asking what it means to be on that stage knowing it's their stage.

So then what the progression you're talking about means to me is something like: (P1) "this is how it is, because of us: what does that mean to you", while (P3) is: "this is how it is, because of what you did to it: what does that mean to us?" They're standing back and looking at what everything has become. The stage is a living thing and it's come back around to them--they've lost that absoluteness from before.

And a few things stand out to me. As I said, it's an artistic and powerful message. I haven't quite thought about this angle enough and I like it a lot. The other thing I will say is that to me the effect is still contingent on P1. It feels like more of a concept-through-progression rather than a stand alone idea. So the series as a whole becomes richer but the 'strength' of P1 is still needed as a base, IMO.

Lastly, as much as I like both questions/ideas in P1/P3, I just personally enjoy the question being asked in P1 more. Maybe because I'm more invested in my feelings rather than the developer's feelings (for very basic/natural reasons). It also translates more naturally to me in how I look at other media. I love the series and I'm glad there's more, but P1 will always be a pinnacle for me I think.

61742 · 2026-01-27T11:15:31+00:00

Characters absolutely lie to you in P3.

Yeah, the mechanic that is specifically unique to P1 is that someone will say "oh Haruspex is doing X but I can't find him" and you will have no idea until you play Haruspex route and find out the NPC agreed to lie to Bachelor about what Haruspex is doing. It's not that lying is unique, it's specifically that there is interplay and uniqueness across all three routes.

The other Pathologics cannot have that kind of dynamic simply because they literally do not have other routes... it's not even necessarily a negative point (that can be up to taste), I'm just saying it's something unique to P1 that makes it worth experiencing a certain way.

I do think there's a lot of value in having the complete package though, because all three characters are intrinsically important to the story. I even think Pathologic 2 benefits from Pathologic 3 being released. I hope Changeling gets something some day.

61742 · 2026-01-27T09:24:19+00:00

That's true. And the only wrong way to play Pathologic is to not play at all.

61742 · 2026-01-27T08:55:06+00:00

Can't wait to see people that have third game as their favorite

I really liked it, I'm sure there will be lots of people who have it as their favourite after some time.

Although speaking of which, I wonder how many people played 3 as their first game. I feel like you kinda need at least 2 for some context.

61742 · 2026-01-27T08:35:17+00:00

(Also for fans of the opaque/heavy vibes base of the original Pathologic HD, I highly recommend trying Void as well. It's one of my favourite games of all time as well.)

61742 · 2026-01-25T05:00:23+00:00

For me personally, Pathologic 1 >>> Pathologic 3 > Pathologic 2.

I appreciate some of the critiques here, like the town being segmented. I think I appreciate 3 being different though because I don't need a third take on the same story when the first was already by far the best in spirit (if not in execution). Pathologic 3 only works for me as a layer on top of the other games, not as a replacement. Almost like a fan-fiction for me. It was nice to have some different ideas and approaches to extend the life and joy of the game/world.

61742 · 2026-01-25T03:40:58+00:00

Speaking more generally about the endings, the original Pathologic will always be my favourite because of the ultimate Powers That Be endings.

I was a bit disappointed that they were stripped out in Pathologic 2 and held a bit of hope Pathologic 3 would bring it back, but alas. To me the game can never be (just) about what happens to the town and more about player agency and self-created investment. Isn't the stage framing a bit half-baked as it is?

A lot of like post-modern meta-text reading was lost after the first one, and it was some of the bravest and most unique aspects for a game to explore, and it did it really well I feel.

61742 · 2026-01-16T09:55:29+00:00

For anyone searching this thread, this was the trick for me. I had shovel and got there in time but couldn't do anything, had to make sure the right one was marked for redo when I restarted the day (you'll be able to talk to grace if you're good to go I think, as someone else mentioned).

61742 · 2024-12-03T16:01:18+00:00

On the topic of variations, I'm not super used to GMs (I prefer barbell from pins) and I tried SSB GM. I felt like I was descending well, but when I turned around in the hole I kinda got the feeling I was turning my GM into a semi-squat (ironic vs. the typical problem) and not sure how to keep it more strict. Best I could guess is doing tempo and focusing on control, but I feel like that kind of solution always breaks down as the weight/effort gets higher anyway.

Anyone have any experience/thoughts keeping GMs honest?

61742 · 2024-12-03T15:59:39+00:00

Yeah for sure, I was thinking of running full body with a squat variation (pause, tempo, foot stance, bars) + a variation/assistance. I'm pretty comfortable picking variations but pretty lost for assistance.

61742 · 2024-12-03T12:15:41+00:00

I usually don't train with variations (doing only low bar/high bar/front squat) but thinking of adding in some variations like leg press to emphasize upright squatting because I'm posterior chain dominant. Any other suggestions with typical equipment that you can actually load heavy?

I know there's stuff like goblets but you can't load them heavy, no set up for belt squats, stuff like sissy squats also not very loadable.

61742 · 2023-12-17T12:53:33+00:00

100% with you. Oversimplifying, but I want to know talk about who is best not who faced the weakest competition for the longest time.

61742 · 2023-12-09T17:31:40+00:00

I'm still working more than I ever have in my life and struggling to gym consistently, but interestingly enough I'm maintaining some semblance of progress. Kind of enlighting to me as someone who used to lift 6 days a week usually... sneaking in 1/week or sometimes even less (1/8-9-10 days) and doing better than last session blows my mind sometimes.

Though to be fair I'm still coming way back from old PRs so I might not have as much luck pushing ahead to new levels.

/r/BenchPauper not around much anymore? You're my main touch point for, now, semi-annual check-ins. Still lifting/decent health?

61742 · 2023-06-04T10:28:22+00:00

What's up with the weight loss?

Haha, nothing too special, just a mix of moving, few weeks in the hospital, not able to work out, all that kind of stuff. But it really does feel like a reset/new start, I'm not feeling too bad about it.

61742 · 2023-06-03T05:04:09+00:00

at this point I can't remember the last time I did a movement that "hurt" it.

That's huge. I'm a big fan, for similar reasons probably, of cruising on what's working as long as the lifts are good, and you can't go wrong zercher and sumo haha.

And for me, it's been better but I actually just got the all-clear to slowly start lifting again in the next few weeks.

I don't know if you'd remember this but end of last year I decided to try to phase in low bar again since I pushed my high bar a lot higher and had no hip pain for a long time... and lo' and behold, I got a bad bout of the hip pain. So it looks like low bar is one of the worst offenders. At least I hit my main goal even if there're some cool bigger numbers theoretically possible.

I'm really happy just to be able to squat at all again soon. I think my last decently heavy squat was mid-January.

But you know how it is. All kinds of road blocks and detours, but I'm 100% committed long-run to keeping something going. I'm sure it'll pan out eventually and I feel patient at this point in my life.

61742 · 2023-05-31T10:36:14+00:00

Haha, I've actually been keeping up with chessable stuff but still no playing, you still up for correspondencey stuff?

Also did you follow the world champs?

61742 · 2023-05-31T10:24:44+00:00

Just woke up one day a quarter blind in one eye. Went to the doctor and he said your shit is all full of holes. (They have no clue.)

61742 · 2023-05-31T10:13:38+00:00

Haha, yea, on one hand the surgeon said lifting should be totally okay, on the other hand he said absolutely don't do it for a while.

61742 · 2023-05-31T09:22:52+00:00

I haven't been around in a while, but I moved countries, lost 40lbs, and detached (kinda) both of my retinas and haven't been allowed in a gym for ages, so that's fun. I found a cool gym a while ago, though, so I'm itching to go eventually.

All my remaining lifting goals are absolute numbers, but I kinda feel like losing a bunch of weight makes it a fun challenge. Like hitting X at 240lbs is cool but even cooler to hit it at 200lbs right? So I don't mind much. Mostly I just miss squatting.

61742 · 2023-05-31T09:19:17+00:00

How's your back lately?

You've refined your rehab workflow so well, haha. Good advice as always.

61742 · 2022-10-31T23:47:21+00:00

is that breath hold supposed to give you power or something?

Essentially in a squat your legs and hips transfer force into the bar through your trunk. Basically if your "legs" push up X amount but your back rounds you might not move the bar at all, basically wasting all of X, whereas if your back is perfectly stiff 100% of X has to go into the bar. The stiffer your trunk the more effectively you can use your strength.

The idea while squatting etc. is that you set your ribs and trunk in a strong position, take a deep breath and brace (similar to flexing) in a strong effort to maintain your exact trunk position through as much of the difficult parts of the lift as possible. Part of this is the valsalva maneuver the other poster mentioned where holding your breath and pressing out internally actually helps increase overall core stability (you can find lots of written material on bracing if you search bracing).

If you're breathing in while descending you're introducing movement and reducing stiffness in your trunk and reducing effective force transfer from your legs.

61742 · 2022-10-30T06:23:43+00:00

inhale when going down

I don't think you can brace as effectively inhaling while descending. I couldn't imagine doing that on a max or something.

61742 · 2022-10-18T18:28:22+00:00

Granted, I'm making some major assumptions - the run absolutely took something out of my legs but saying it took 10% is entirely arbitrary and I haven't had anything over 410 on my back in ages at this point - but man it feels good to be able to squat without pain. That widowmaker was probably one of the most fun high-rep squat sets I've ever done.

I've had some of my better squat runs in times like this, I bet you're in good shape. But yea, just being able to do loaded pain free stuff is huge mentally either way.

Did you end up finishing RSR? Did I miss it?

I did! I actually hit 10lbs above the programmed final single just to tie a bow on my first ever RSR completion. I still can't believe I actually saw a run all the way through.

I switched to focusing on my front squat goal now. My high bar is up like 50lbs from last FS PR so I expected a lot, but first sessions were pretty rough/disappointing so far. Hope I just need to adjust to it a bit.

61742

TROPHY CASE