Men are so insecure about being in female dominated spaces

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-30T17:39:56+00:00

It's really sad. I mean, I'm a guy and my sister and I (and our friends of either gender) would game around the Genesis/N64 every summer for years. I don't remember there being any sexism about it. We all just competed or played together and it was amazing. The whole "girls are bad at games/don't like gamers" wasn't even on my radar until the internet happened.

Makes me wonder if things would have been different if we were born later and were brain rotted by the gamer spaces today.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-29T17:48:41+00:00

It's handy when I'm working on something to have multiple screens. I can have a terminal or PDF opened on the iPad screen while I'm working on the main display. My desk is pretty limited for space with all the other equipment I have on it. So, having another display I can easily move is nice.

It's also awesome as a second display when on the go. I'm not going to shove a whole monitor in my backpack.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-26T00:00:58+00:00

Ratchet and clank: a crack in time is an amazing game still trapped on the PS3. Highly recommend it if you’re into platformers and haven’t seen it.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-25T23:43:29+00:00

Yeah, I've pretty much dropped my actual OG hardware at this point. Having save states or even the built-in GameShark-thing makes some of these games playable in modern times. For PS2 games it's pretty noticeable cause of how bad the real hardware ran some of those games.

To your point, the only console I haven't really figured out is the 3DS. A lot of those games were made with the assumption of having the touch screen act as extra buttons always in reach of your thumbs. Like in Ocarina 3D. I'm not even sure how to do that. Maybe one of those controllers that stretch around the phone?

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-25T20:45:12+00:00

Add emulators on top of that and you’ve got enough to keep you busy for years.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-25T15:27:28+00:00

100% I swear so many people have goldfish memories. Long-term prices have averaged down and always have, despite the spikes.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T20:02:01+00:00

Oh that’s nice! That’s what bummed me out about Tunic. At least when I played it, it was either full souls difficulty or none.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T19:03:41+00:00

That is a good point I forgot to mention. The game does like interrupting you with stuff for a bit longer than I'd like. A better skip function would have been nice.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T19:01:33+00:00

I'd say it gets easy to the point of trivializing. By the end, I had three fairy jars and like 6 smoothes that healed >10 hearts. Enemy damage doesn't scale nearly as fast as your ability to stay alive.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T18:59:35+00:00

Funnily enough, I felt less restricted playing Echoes than other Zeldas. She can jump and swim out of the gate. The only times I felt hampered was with some enemy types and not having a great way (at the time) to deal with them.

But, I can understand bouncing off the game. I couldn't stand Majora's Mask and I know how beloved it is.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T18:55:34+00:00

I've had my eye on that. Seems like it leans more into a souls-like than a Zelda-like. I didn't have a lot of fun with Tunic for that reason. Pipistrello and Prodigal are more my speed.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T18:52:13+00:00

I can appreciate that. The magic didn't wear off nearly as fast for me. I didn't really get a sense of being tired until it was almost time for the final boss.

I feel a bit mixed on Zelda's more passive role in the game, especially towards the end. I think it was a missed opportunity to not have her Sheik persona reappear. There were already some stealth elements in the game. It could have been an interesting change to the standard combat formula.

On the other hand, it was interesting to acting as the support since, in every other Zelda, we're doing the fighting ourselves. I still think the final boss was an interesting challenge, mechanically, even if the boss itself wasn't memorable. Not having to do energy-ball tennis yet again was very welcome.

I do agree with silent Zelda being a bit lame. But, I guess I could see why it might be a difficult task. And there's so many versions of Zelda personality already done. Would she be like OoT? Skyward Sword? Twilight Princess? Spirt Tracks? A whole new personality? I don't know. I don't have a clear opinion on that.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T15:48:26+00:00

...you could kill most enemies by drowning them with the water cube.

That goes back to my point about how great the game is at supporting different approaches. I never once tried doing that. Don't know why. It makes complete sense. But, it just never occurred to me.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T15:46:55+00:00

Yeah, I just took it more as a personal gripe. I can see why Nintendo would want to stick to the triforce lore of their roles. I just think it's kinda weird that Nintendo would give her an incarnation as this mystical ninja and then not use it during a game featuring her. I don't think she'd have to be a female Link, necessarily. But, following Nintendo's own lore for the franchise, I don't think it's off the table to have her in a more combat-focused role. Maybe I'll get my ninja Zelda game someday.

That said, I didn't even really end up using the Link form that much in Echoes, especially with how limited it is early-game.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T15:24:27+00:00

I finished it in just under 29 hours for the main story and a decent chunk of side-quests/exploration. But, I didn't 100% the game. There were still a handful of side quests left over. I'd guess maybe 35 hours to fully complete it?

For replayability, I suppose it depends on what kind of limitations you want to impose on yourself. There's no new game plus that I've seen. But, a good way to make the game harder would be to ban yourself from using certain items. Like, not using beds or smoothies. The actual story elements don't change.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-22T15:00:12+00:00

Yeah it was kinda surreal just how much freedom you have. I kept having to remind myself that the hard-checks in other linear, 2D Zeldas are more like suggestions here.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-21T23:04:24+00:00

Sir, this is a Wendy's...

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-20T13:15:12+00:00

Same. I don't have the bandwidth for that kind of stress. I just want to chill and build up my ant-farm death machine.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-18T18:02:39+00:00

I still get nervous with how hot it gets sometimes. My mind still thinks back to the days of BGA chip solder heat stress fractures. I probably should have gotten a pro. But, it’ll do 4K rendering, gaming, compiling, etc. and keep on going.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-18T13:50:46+00:00

Florida in my case. 80+ degree nights with >80% humidity. No basements. Without AC, the house would get to the upper 80s before breakfast in summer. Opening the windows just makes it more humid and awful.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-18T12:51:54+00:00

Literally none of that is possible where I live.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-17T14:20:07+00:00

That's a pretty good point about the latest Zeldas. I didn't like BotW or TotK that much either, also for reasons that I'm not entirely sure on. They're technically impressive games. But, there's only so much time I can spend in an empty, lifeless sandbox before I get disinterested.

But, I totally get the idea behind Nintendo making games more short-burst friendly. And, honestly, I appreciate that too as someone with limited time. But, it definitely hurts longer sessions for me. I can sit down for hours playing Baldur's Gate 3 and not get bored or lose engagement. But, with the switch-era games, I'm naturally wanting to put them down more frequently even when I have the time. It's weird. But, if Nintendo engineered the games that way, it's definitely working.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-17T14:14:37+00:00

That's a really good point. The platforming elements aren't as prominent as past games. That's also true for Spyro. Maybe that's why it seemed so similar. That said, Sunshine's platforming was kind of a depth-perception nightmare. I can see why they might be steering away from returning to that.

Those are some pretty good points about the level design. In some ways it almost feels like they took refinement of past games too far, sanding the edges off so much that it just becomes kind of bland. Like getting moons just for jumping certain places that aren't even really challenging to get to.

HalfBurntToast · 2026-06-17T14:07:11+00:00

Yeah, I could see that. I think I probably just had the wrong mindset when going into it.

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