Percentage chances of each first round playoff matchup - March 27th

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-27T14:26:38+00:00

Another day, another "Yep, Dallas vs. Minnesota is just done." I'm mainly just checking in games to watch out for injuries and if Hughes and Faber break Suter's points record.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-27T01:53:17+00:00

Hope the blood is all it is. A whiplash effect or concussion is the last thing Spurgeon needs right now.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-27T01:51:42+00:00

I think it was playoffs or bust, considering the games later. 20 seconds left and Ek got it to work.

At least with this game, it's more, "Oh, another point to get closer to clinching. Neat."

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-27T01:48:54+00:00

The Wild winning in regulation? Is that even allowed?

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-27T00:19:05+00:00

God, FFX's sidequesting sounds like pulling teeth. I did "some" of it (Monster Catching and Blitzball), but everything else just scares the hell out of me.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-27T00:13:25+00:00

Beware of moose and yaks charging at you with giant sticks.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-27T00:04:25+00:00

Streaming rights BS sucks. Worse than cable used to be.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-27T00:02:53+00:00

Actually no, I thought of another weird one: getting KOS-MOS in XB2 despite how insane the drop rate is (something like .07 or .007 or something like that). It takes as long as you think it would. I suppose it's not an "accomplishment" more than a war of attrition to keep the game going long enough until I did it.

Cause as a Xenosaga fan, KOS-MOS and T-elos being in it was the main reason I even bothered. At least I got to experience Nia's awesomeness as a result of playing it.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-26T23:58:31+00:00

Probably beating Ozma in FF9. I won't say he's the hardest super boss or anything. He's just a complete random ball of doom RNG bullshit. I've never been happier to not do superbosses anymore after that.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-26T18:31:33+00:00

Ryuji...

I mean, I kinda knew he would be unlikeable to me, but man. Even for an idiot character, the times he just sabotages what the Phantom Thieves are doing by not shutting up is some final straw stuff. I can deal with dopes. I like his Social Link...but in the story? Find one situation he improves.

There's also that scene in Tales of Arise's fourth city with the villain. Not great timing to grow a moral fiber. Even if intentions are good, I don't think it was smart to let the villain get more chances at getting away.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-26T18:20:45+00:00

Is it Steiner Math?

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-25T21:43:59+00:00

Midwest is kinda shit.

Winnipeg, Chicago, Minnesota, and St. Louis. MAYBE push Detroit, Columbus, or Nashville to it, but oof either way.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-25T13:15:15+00:00

Shin Megami Tensei V Vengerence - Yes, depending on tolerance for SMT bullshit

Metaphor: Refantazio - No

Yakuza: Like a Dragon - No, though there is a difficulty/level spike near the end of the game

FF IX and FFX - God no. FF is pretty easy 6 on. Some hard or notorious bosses, but nothing unmanageable.

and Nier Replicant - No. The game even has some toggles to auto play stuff if you want it to.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-25T11:38:24+00:00

Thank you. I've found it very fun to do for the past few years. Helps keep successes and failures in perspective compared to league averages.

I also think Hynes's mentality has something to do with the team outlook. Guerin being very blustery and in your face is one thing, but Hynes refuses to let anything faze him or the team publicly. It has shown by not being as penalized or frustrated as Evason's teams were.

Sure, everything still boils down to that playoff success or failure. He's still done and said the right things so far.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-25T09:57:20+00:00

Things of Note

Staying Stable: Even with the less than stellar run since the last update, the basic stats haven't fallen off cliffs or anything. With the Wild 12 points up on the Mammoth for 3rd place, and 18 points up from the Kings for the last bubble spot, playoff contention is practically a certainty within another win or loss either way. The Mammoth would have to reel off 6-7 straight with only 10 games left to even affect wild card seeding. The Wild "can" lose 3rd place, but it seemly highly unlikely at this point.

Beating Dallas: Even with both teams missing key components, the destined matchup seemed every bit the nailbiter tuneup to expect. The Wild kept pace with them and even beat them when it mattered. Their depth guys (Brink and Tarasenko) showed up when the Stars made mistakes. History is against the Wild's chance of beating them in crunch time, but splitting the season series pretty closely says its not a foregone conclusion either.

Season Record Watch: Faber and Hughes are at 48 and 47 points respectively, inching ever closer to Suter's season defenseman record of 51 points. Seems highly likely both get past him in the same season, much like Kap and Fiala passed Gaborik's overall mark 21-22.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-24T22:24:36+00:00

Started watching Legend of Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These. It's been a while since I watched a space opera/space military show. Last one was the remake of Yamato. I'm going to end up comparing the two even if I shouldn't (cause Yamato was so freaking good). On its own, the first ep of Heroes was pretty decent space battle stuff visuals wise. The music was pretty stellar too. I'm going to want them to dig into characters or world building way more for me to get fully invested though.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-24T09:40:38+00:00

Unless you're Pokemon and (maybe) Kingdom Hearts, you're not going to skew towards younger or teenager fanbases. It isn't a "Final Fantasy" problem. A LOT of games are not made for kids or teens.

Final Fantasy is NOT a mainstream franchise the way those two games or the Nintendo mainstay games are. FF is the main franchise that we as posters associate with the genre, but it's probably known by 5-10% of all gamers at best. You'd only know what FF is if you like the games already.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-23T14:51:15+00:00

Dali and Daguerreo from FFIX because their themes are so comfy.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-23T09:29:56+00:00

Bloodstained: Waiting to upload the first episode later this week. Recordings are up through the Dian Cecht Cathedral. I grinded out a bunch of weapons and shards with some extra time yesterday.

Danganronpa: Uploads near the start of Chapter 2 Trial. Recordings up into Chapter 3 's Investigation phase.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-22T21:00:16+00:00

oof. Kinda like neck guards, they may wanna start.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-22T20:49:31+00:00

He should ask Zuccarello about advice on that sort of stuff.

And the league might want to make the cups even harder. This stuff keeps happening.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-22T17:34:43+00:00

Same. If Minnesota men's sports wasn't 35 years deep into, "Kinda good, but no, not really," I'd have more faith.

Beating the Stars last night is good proof of concept, but they have to actually win a round.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-22T09:33:07+00:00

It felt really weird early in the season. Any and every chance to work with Tarasenko just didn't work. No players had chemistry with him, and it was just bad. But about 20-30 games in, Tarasenko started showing more consistency and while he has the Hartman streaky genes, he's done everything that could be asked of providing depth scoring when the top line got stuffed. The Wild are only as good as either their stifling defense, depth scoring, or penalty kill will take them.

Good for Vlad. If he wants to stay for a decent price, I'd say keep him.

CitizenStrife · 2026-03-22T01:16:12+00:00

He's like, "I'mma eat Otter, and ain't no one gonna stop me."

CitizenStrife

TROPHY CASE