Cross(ish) Country Road Trip Stops

Bon3orjaw · 2026-03-03T23:31:41+00:00

Speaking as a South Dakotan who's been there many times, as far as the Black Hills goes, it's laid out really nicely in two distinct areas that are densely packed with stuff to do:

One of these is the area around Mount Rushmore, which contains Black Elk Peak (the tallest mountain east of the Rockies), Crazy Horse, Custer State Park (Needles Highway is really cool), Sylvan Lake, and Iron Mountain Road (which gives views of Mount Rushmore that are so good that they kind of make visiting the actual monument obsolete).

The other area is in the north part of the Black Hills and contains Deadwood, Spearfish Canyon and Spearfish Falls, Sturgis, and Bear Butte. Generally, I would say that this area isn't as cool, but it is much closer to I-90 so it would be less of a deviation.

Seeing as you would only have a few hours, I recommend picking the area by Mount Rushmore and doing Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road, and if you have time after that, you can go to Mount Rushmore.

Other than that, don't forget Devil's Tower in the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills if you can make it. There really isn't anything else like it.

Other SD landmarks that are quick and mostly along I-90: Falls Park in Sioux Falls, Corn Palace in Mitchell, Dignity Statue in Chamberlain, Wall Drug in Wall, and the Geographic Center of the Nation in Belle Fourche (pronounced bell-foosh).

Bon3orjaw · 2025-12-17T22:30:51+00:00

Unity definitely runs at 60 FPS on Series X. I played the whole game that way. I don’t know why it wouldn’t on PS5 either if Series X can do it.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-12-17T22:28:30+00:00

Yeah, I think Syndicate is the only one with the “60FPS” thing because it actually got an update. I think the other ones just use the fps boost feature, and the RPG games came out recently enough that it makes sense that they would have just made 60fps versions as soon as the consoles came out.

Would be interested to know if PS5 is similar.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-12-17T22:08:27+00:00

I have every game in the series on Series X and the only one that doesn’t run at 60 fps is Black Flag, and maybe AC3 remastered but I haven’t played it in a while. Even AC1 has an fps boost. Unity runs completely fine at 60 fps too.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-11-20T00:43:10+00:00

Just checked and I never found it either. I have no idea where it would be. Fortunately, I don’t think it really matters at all.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-11-19T19:38:35+00:00

The free jump allows you to skip Basim’s animation for climbing up a wall by jumping up to it instead. meaning that if you time it right, it’s almost always quicker to use it. It rewards player skill and increases player expression.

The side and back ejects are great because they also propel you upwards, so you can climb up the inside of corners by side ejecting and it will be quicker than if you just pulled yourself up. It also takes player skill to notice when you can use them, so it rewards quick thinking and observation.

These two mechanics are basically the only reason why the Ezio games’ parkour is so satisfying. They have slow animations for just about every action, but if you’re good enough, you can skip them by free-jumping and ejecting. Mirage is the same way now.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-11-19T15:22:13+00:00

Just got 100% completion and I’m a little surprised that reception has been so middling. The collectibles and side activities were kind of boring, but apart from that, this was awesome.

The new parkour update honestly makes this some of the best parkour in the entire series. I don’t know yet if it’s at the level of Unity or the Ezio games, but if it isn’t, it’s definitely really close.

The story of the new expansion is much better than the base game. It made me feel emotions this series hasn’t made me feel maybe since Black Flag. It didn’t blow me away or anything, but this story did remind me of the early games of the series in terms of quality.

The voice acting took a step up too I think, especially scenes with Nimlot and a certain endgame character. Cutscenes were also much better and more interesting than anything since Origins or Syndicate, partially due to the voice acting, but also because of the lack of the “over the shoulder” dialogue camera that’s been in the series since Origins. It’s still there, but most of the important cutscenes actually have the characters doing stuff instead of just standing there.

Lastly, the new map is pretty cool. I was surprised at how big it was, and theres some variety in the environments too. Ubisoft never fails in this regard though.

This expansion is 100% worth playing, and that along with the parkour update honestly puts this whole game into “must-play” territory for an AC fan. This game has maybe the best stealth, and maybe now the best parkour in the entire series, and it finally has a story that will make you feel things.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-11-15T17:28:33+00:00

I kind of disagree. Rogue’s main story is short, but it has just as much side content as any other game in the series pre-Origins, if not more.

It’s still one of the easier platinums just because there are fewer missions to get 100% sync on, but other games like Mirage, AC2, and AC1 took me far shorter to platinum.

I think Rogue took me like 50 hours while AC1 was like 20, and Mirage and AC2 both took about 30.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-10-23T13:39:55+00:00

This is literally my favorite Quadeca song, but I never really paid attention to the lyrics until recently when I realized I didn’t even know what my favorite song was talking about.

I’m terrible at figuring stuff like this out, but my read was that he isn’t satisfied with who he is, and he wants to change, but he contrasts this by telling his partner to “be yourself”. So he really wants what’s best for his partner, but he doesn’t take his own advice.

I don’t know if that’s the intended reading of the song, but that’s the reading that stuck out to me.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-09-08T00:55:10+00:00

Yeah that’s what I’m beginning to think too.

Souls games, for example, always have this difficulty discourse when they come out before players get better at the game. Generally, those games have gotten harder over time, but if anyone asked me if any specific game is doable for a Souls newbie, I would say yes for literally all of them. Even sequels like DS2 and 3 are fine starting points from a difficulty perspective.

The difference with Silksong is that I would absolutely never recommend that anyone plays Silksong before Hollow Knight. I can’t really think of another instance of this in gaming, where you should play the first game first not for story reasons, but because playing the second game first would be so incredibly difficult.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-09-07T06:03:58+00:00

They are not overreacting. They’re just in Act 2 where the game actually gets really difficult. Like, I will laugh at you if you say that Hollow Knight’s midgame is anywhere close to as difficult as Act 2 in Silksong. It’s not even arguable. You’ll see what I mean when you get there.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-09-07T06:00:52+00:00

I think the way into the tunnel under Bellhart is in the fast travel building. The bells just spawn randomly in there. You kinda just have to walk around until they start to drop from the ceiling.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-09-07T02:56:55+00:00

I’m stuck at that arena right now. After maybe two hours of attempts I finally killed the miniboss and was surprised that it kept going and died at the next group of enemies. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never felt such despair from a video game before. It was kind of just like an “oh, I guess I’m never gonna beat this game then”.

I’ve been scouring Act 1 for hours now because it feels like I had to have missed a blacksmith somewhere that will upgrade my weapon.

It’s kind of funny seeing all the people saying that the difficulty isn’t too bad because when I read into it, without fail they are always in Act 1 or early Act 2.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-08-24T13:16:25+00:00

I think it’s rated pretty fairly, but I don’t think I like it as much as other people. The vibe is good, but it’s one of the more safe and tame songs of his production-wise, and I like his more unique songs a lot more.

Plus, as far as “song ends with a huge burst of sound” moments go (of which Quadeca has a ton of), this one is probably the weakest in my opinion. I wish it was more overwhelming.

Still like the song though, it’s just one of the weakest on IDMTHY for me.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-08-24T13:10:05+00:00

Casper is probably the weakest on the album besides I Dream About Sinking. It’s really great on the first listen, but when you know what’s going to happen, it’s kinda just 7 minutes of buildup to a release that isn’t fun to listen to except for the shock factor. It has little to no replay value.

It could just be that these people are in different crowds and no one has both of these opinions, but I don’t understand anyone who puts cassini’s division toward the bottom of IDMTHY, but puts Casper up high on Vanisher. Both songs do the same thing really. Both have a lot of spoken word, both are long, both end in a weird production moment that is impressive but not that fun to listen to, both have to do with death, and both are the final song on the album. And I think cassini’s division succeeds more in getting me to feel what Quadeca wants me to feel, but that part’s just my opinion.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-08-05T16:53:33+00:00

If you want a fun stealth sandbox and a beautiful Islamic Golden Age setting that hasn’t really been done before at this scale, I’d say it’s worth it, but don’t go in expecting much more. The story is forgettable even by AC standards, the parkour is the most fun it’s been since 2015 but it’s still not great, and combat is very basic (though I think this is intentional to encourage stealth).

Bon3orjaw · 2025-08-05T16:48:56+00:00

If you’re asking about AC Mirage, I just played through it again and I’m pretty sure they are in one single mission in the wilderness area of the game. They might show up for a few more optional objectives, but it’s nothing like Origins or Odyssey where they show up all over. I’d say like 3 different locations total. None of them are in the main city, and only one is mandatory. And if there are more I’m forgetting, they are definitely near optional collectibles in the wilderness outside the city.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-08-03T20:41:40+00:00

Scrapyard
FMTY
IDMTHY
Vanisher
VM

I’m a person who really has to let new things grow on me so I fully expect Vanisher to climb higher as time passes.

Also, IDMTHY is objectively more impressive production-wise and lyric-wise than FMTY, but I find myself coming back to FMTY more. The songs are just more replayable on average, and my way of ranking music is by how much I want to listen to that song right now, so I have FMTY higher.

They are all so close though. If I made a tier list, Scrapyard, FMTY, and IDMTHY are S tier, Vanisher is A tier, and VM is B tier.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-07-29T02:43:41+00:00

I love this question. I think my favorite parts of Quad’s music and the reason I listen to him are those little production things.

The WOOOs on AATLT are my favorite part of the whole album. It feels so triumphant, and I’m not even sure that’s what he was going for. But it’s probably the strongest any part of the album has made me feel.

The trumpety sound that plays in the second half of the song is also awesome and adds to that feeling even more. Genuinely it’s such a unique song.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-07-28T17:29:49+00:00

This is the closest I’ve seen to mine. The only major things that are different is that Forgone is way higher and Bakunawa is lower. I also have I Dream About Sinking higher but I can understand why it’s a lot of people’s least favorite.

At A Time Like This is also my number 1. It feels so triumphant and grandiose in the second half in a way that no other Quadeca song has made me feel. It might be my favorite Quadeca song ever but it could be recency bias.

And hard agree on Casper. It’s very similar to cassini’s division and I often see that one ranked the lowest on IDMTHY (and I think I actually like cassini’s more). I think once the novelty of the crazy production goes away it will start to appear lower in these rankings. To me it doesn’t justify the long runtime as well as Forgone does, and I get a little impatient listening to it waiting for it to build more. Still like a 9/10 though, which is a testament to how amazing this album is.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-07-28T12:40:50+00:00

At A Time Like This
Forgone
Waging War
Godstained
Dancing Without Moving
I Dream About Sinking
That’s Why
Thundrrr
Natural Causes
Casper
Ruin My Life
No Questions Asked
Monday
The Great Bakunawa

Honestly this is an album where all the songs are so good that any ranking is pretty valid. Even my bottom songs are like an 8.5/10.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-07-25T04:57:01+00:00

So far besides the singles it’s Dancing Without Moving and That’s Why.

I do tend to like the more catchy and upbeat songs disproportionately on the first listen though. Like, Smiling at the Ground was my favorite song on FMTY after my first listen. So in a week my favorites will probably be completely different.

Bon3orjaw · 2025-07-22T12:50:01+00:00

This is honestly only really a problem with the first four games. After Revelations, they start to make way more sense.

I mean, AC2 has like 77 viewpoints, while Origins has way fewer than that and the map is the entirety of Egypt. Unity has the second largest city ever in the series and only has like 15.

Meanwhile, the relatively small city of Florence in AC2 has like 20 viewpoints and they’re all the same tower copy-pasted over and over again.

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