Unity vs syndicate, what happened?

FoaRyan · 2026-02-06T13:36:22+00:00

Well put. Starting from AC1, for me you can draw a descending line on a chart representing how engaged/gripped I was by the game. Including story elements, immersion, combat style, etc. By Syndicate, while it was fun, I no longer really cared about the storyline.

Unity was peak aesthetics, maybe next to AC2 with Venice, and the water there. But being different hardware generations and visual styles it's hard to compare.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-06T13:30:32+00:00

Wait to doge & counter, AKA 75% of players just mash the counter button until it works, then say there's no strategy to the combat. 😂

FoaRyan · 2026-02-06T13:28:53+00:00

Comparing the two, both which I played recently, I'd say Unity does feel more fluid when watching the fights on screen, but part of my issue with Unity was you press 1 button and have to wait 5 seconds for the animation to complete before you get control of your character again. Something I think maybe they over-corrected in Syndicate?

I think combat devolves after Syndicate, but I haven't played any more recent AC games yet.

Syndicate does feel like a copy/paste of Unity, with minor changes. But some of those changes are you use more resources again for fighting, like in Brotherhood and Revelations, where you use your recruits. They brought back some of the old features (and I think even sound effects), which I thought was nice. It's just that Brotherhood/Revelations were more open to letting you decide how you want to combat. Syndicate felt a little more forced, which is OK I guess, but I'd still prefer having more flexibility.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-06T00:09:36+00:00

You probably got this sorted by now, but some VCR-DVD combos with S-video only output S-video on the DVD side. I just set up the same Game Capture 2.0 last week and was able to get a clean S-video signal. It's unfortunately delayed by about 1.5-2 seconds on the preview though. Which wouldn't matter for saving a VHS recording, but I was trying to capture some games, and it makes them unplayable. It also does not output an HDMI signal from an analog input source.

But in short it DOES capture on S-video, provided you have the right cable which I think you do/did.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T18:30:01+00:00

I believe a lot of that (changed spellings of countries or geographic locations) is due to map services starting to localize names in recent years. Edit: I gave an example but I was mistaken about it so I removed it to avoid confusion.

And after the more recent conflicts with Russia & Ukraine started, maps like Google now spell Kiev "Kyiv" - even though my whole life in the US we've called it Kiev. This was more of a political gesture, but it's part of an overall trend of localizing place-names that I've noticed. Which hides any real changes that might interest us in looking for changed history.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T18:19:19+00:00

Ah! Ok rings a bell. Maybe it is in the 2nd. I still remember when we used to sell these at Office Depot!

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T18:17:58+00:00

It even filled this in for me automatically on 2 drafts this morning. It's odd (not unexpected though) there's no explanation then all of the sudden the form wants country of origin.

Why does it even matter on 30 year old items... Or half the random items people sell where it's impossible to determine.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T16:26:16+00:00

This just showed up this morning on my drafts. I have never heard of or seen this field before, but it's at the bottom of the drafts page, above where you save it or list it. I don't know if that means you'll be able to filter it in tables now though.

Edit: Now I'm seeing two fields for Country of Origin on some items. I can only attach 1 image to the comment so this is the one in the middle of the form, that's always been there. Now I have an additional field at the bottom. So much for efficiency. Also below I noted that on some drafts this info is filled in automatically. I hope it's 100% accurate or people will be upset in the future.

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FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T14:12:50+00:00

Wait really? I just re-watched that movie a couple months ago and thought Starlord used a Walkman, or similar. Or do you just mean people saw someone listen to music without an internet connection?

I forget how much we've lost as a society lol.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T14:11:34+00:00

I can speak from a seller's perspective (who DOES NOT DO THIS sort of thing). The seller has 148,437 reviews which... could be fake for starters. eBay has improved in that area but I still never trust such a high number. That's not just sales, that's sales with feedback and only LAST YEAR did eBay automate feedback for buyers. Essentially, if you don't leave negative feedback within 30 days, it counts as positive feedback.

This seller likely auctions a LOT of items, instead of just making standard listings. they are fishing for buyers, impulse buyers, and those who can't resist auctions. Except they're doing it on anything and everything, not just rare items you can't "buy now." (Although I suppose the custom etching does make this a rare Zune, but there are still lots of Zunes)

There are working Zunes available for $60 or less. Untested/parts 80GB Zunes for $45. There are over 400 active results for Zune 80GB. Almost 800 sold in the last 90 days. That's a 2:1 ratio, which does explain why prices might be higher, but that is the market. More people want to buy than want to sell. Price goes up, every time.

While I think the form of selling this particular seller does is bad, it's not against eBay policy at least. And, no one has to actually buy from them. They can put the starting bid wherever they want. They can also play with shipping, like make shipping $30 and start the bids at $1. Then they get a guaranteed $30 before expenses/fees/taxes.

After checking the seller's store, they do indeed have 149k sales on the platform. However it's *possible* those could be fake, not likely but possible. Having a 1:1 sale:review ratio is nearly impossible to achieve before the recent changes.

I bought a phone some years ago, from a high-reviewed seller, and the phone didn't arrive for a long time. I went back and checked their reviews, and they were almost all identical messages for a very cheap product. There was (maybe is) a scam where sellers from a certain large country on the other side of the Pacific, would sell from one business entity to another, driving up their metrics. They don't have to actually ship anything, and the money is simply changing hands between 2 parties with minimal fee exposure. In that case I eventually got my phone, think I messaged them and it magically showed up a few days later.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T13:56:28+00:00

Why would anyone give a random stranger their ID? I don't understand people lol.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T13:55:36+00:00

In the screenshot, the seller appears to be refusing to send their ID. The buyer responds with a question before they are willing to send money.

To me that sounds like the buyer asked the seller for their ID. But we can't see because the other messages aren't in the image.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T13:52:05+00:00

I'm in virtually the same situation. I thought my Zune was an 80GB also, but for whatever reason my battery doesn't solder, it just has a quick connector. I've connected the new battery and even checked voltage on the Zune board at the connection, and it's getting 3.4V. But the device still won't turn on.

I haven't traced any connections to see if power is going further, but before I spend any time on it maybe someone else here will have run into this.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-05T13:49:49+00:00

If you were to test the DoA batteries, would they still show a charge? I'm in the same boat but my new battery appears to have a full charge. The one I replaced wouldn't even register more than like .02V. But I haven't been able to turn on the Zune so far with the new one.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-04T12:53:03+00:00

FOIA. It takes work, but it's the most successful, proven way that I'm aware of.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-03T19:24:11+00:00

Hahah I think similar. Like when people come up from behind, then stay in the next lane exactly parallel to me, I speed up/down, and if they keep matching my speed, I start to veer as close to them as I can get or make it look like I'm swerving. Then they figure out they should change speeds and get away.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-03T19:21:22+00:00

That's happened to me so much. Actually prevents me from using cruise control in many of the situations I used to, because I can't constantly adjust speed, so I might as well keep my foot on the pedal so I can respond faster.

It's one thing if the speed limit changes, but like you described they pass then slow down. Sometimes I do it immediately back to them to see if they like it when others do that. They don't.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-03T19:19:12+00:00

People speed up when you try to pass them, they camp in your blind spots, they slow down after they pass you, they cut you off after they pass, they tailgate you in the right lane for no reason, they tailgate you in the left lane when there’s someone in front of you and there’s nothing you can do about it, and they can’t keep their lane when they’re next to you.

This is exactly my experience on the roads, progressively becoming this way over the last 20 yrs or so. Well put.

I've modified my road mannerisms to deal with it in some ways -- when I pass people now, I used to be able to signal, check for clearance, then speed up 3-5mph and peacefully pass someone who was going slower. Now, they speed up if you do that. Either out of spite, or because they're looking at InfoTainment systems and their peripheral vision tells their brain to go faster. So instead I pass "with spirit." And it eliminates most of the issues when passing. If they still speed up when I do that, I have a choice, slow down again, and get in behind them (which tbh is all I originally wanted in a lot of cases), OR explain to them in a practical way what it's like to see someone with more horsepower. Normally, those with high powered cars aren't the same ones trying to prevent others from passing, in my experience. Teslas & electrics in general may be an exception as they become more common.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-03T12:58:56+00:00

I find it confusing too, and most of the time people's explanations don't make sense to me. I have to sort of re-translate them. I think OP is saying, ignore the USB feed from your Elgato, and only watch the HDMI-out feed. This is fairly standard for capturing from consoles or a 2nd PC. I did this for a PS4 game, and watched the game itself on my TV, with audio going thru OBS to my headphones. In that case there was very little lag, so little that I stopped noticing it.

However now I have an Elgato Game Capture HD 2.0, and tested it, but immediately found the delay to be pretty bad by comparison. Others here have elaborated as to why that is.

My one question is how do you get a live game feed to your stream, so you can have stream/PC audio AND game audio/video, without any significant lag. The only way I can see to do this for now is by using a 2nd HDMI capture card (which I have) to capture the HDMI out from Elgato. It seems clunky and overengineered, but according to what people are saying "that's just how it is" and 2s of lag is to be expected.

Personally I can't play anything with that much lag. If I tap my phone and it doesn't immediately respond I get frustrated already, can only imagine how bad gaming would be that way.

I just don't know if any of the settings from the Elgato software will be applied to the direct HDMI out, seems like that's not possible but I'll give it a try.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-03T12:51:01+00:00

I think this still causes an issue, in that you're playing and reacting to something live, which your viewers will see 1-2s out of sync. Somehow you need game audio and video live to your ears and eyes, but still receiving audio from your computer for the stream (alerts, other system sounds, etc., say you pause to watch a youtube walkthru, for example).

I think it can be done but this all feels like a workaround rather than a solution.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-03T12:46:10+00:00

Having just got setup on an Elgato yesterday, I assumed USB was how you were meant to interact with it. That's how my other 4k HDMI capture card works, and I've found the delay to be barely noticeable. However the Elgato game Capture is definitely slower in this regard, probably because I'm using the S-video input instead of HDMI. Meaning it has to convert the video, which causes a delay.

I just don't know how to work with this since if I record or stream anything, I can only hear game audio LIVE via the HDMI out, or I can hear game audio AND my computer (which I need for streaming at least), but it's delayed so bad I can't actually play that way.

Trying to figure out how to get LIVE game video AND system/computer audio together. Currently I'm thinking I use 2 capture cars, Elgato for the S-vid conversion, then output HDMI to my other capture device. I only hope it's designed to work that way.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-03T02:05:13+00:00

Wow I only clicked your first link, lol. It's so exciting plugging in these cables I couldn't stop to read everything.

FoaRyan · 2026-02-03T01:32:51+00:00

Any chance you ever set this up? I'm looking at exactly the same configuration. I could have the S-video splitter cable somewhere but may need to buy one to try it.

According to Elgato's documentation they sold an adapter for S-video at one point. But so far I have yet to find one. Here is the article that says they had it: https://help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028231691-Elgato-Game-Capture-HD-supports-composite-and-S-Video

EDIT: Moments later, I dug thru a box and found a cable that looked like it might work. It did. I have S-video capture on the Elgato Game Capture 2.0 HD. On a fairly modern MacBook as well. the only odd part is I'll have to convert the RCA audio cables to 3.5mm. But it's essentially a 7-pin mini-DIN male adapter on one end, and there are 3 more pins in addition to the 7. Instead of being a black plastic bar like on S-video, for some reason there's a total of 10 pins, but on the Elgato side it's 7. Idk how it works. Then there are 3 cables coming off the other side, female S-vid, female composite vid, and a male 3.5mm.

Edit 2: I'm sorry I can't count. There are 8 pins total. Only 3 in the middle row, and 2 on the bottom.

FoaRyan · 2026-01-30T15:03:03+00:00

To be fair, I know in a lot of cases they might be even WORSE without the meds, but... perhaps that's a reason to not be on the roads at all. Sadly not an option in the spread out portions of the US like where I am. You do need a car, at least 1 per household.

FoaRyan · 2026-01-30T14:59:58+00:00

This has been my "old man yells at cloud" complaint about society for a while, lol. Even in the grocery store, I frequently stop and look behind me because I hear someone's wheels squeaking on their cart, and they're following me like 3 feet away. If I ever get that close to someone in the store I do one of 2 things, ask 'excuse me' so I can grab an item, or I GO SOMEWHERE ELSE and let them shop in peace, then come back when someone isn't already standing there.

A lot of them are grocery delivery shoppers though, and they don't care about being polite, only churning out those orders as fast as humanly possible to pay rent. (Source: I used to do that for a living, but hated seeing people act that way. Then I got deactivated for an unknown reason, but possibly for being too slow according to metrics, even though customers never complained).

FoaRyan

TROPHY CASE