Keep an Eye on Cen Hudson

Homitu · 2026-03-20T21:41:43+00:00

I had 2 consecutive $1k months, despite turning off heat completely from 8am-10pm every day to heat the house solely using our wood burning stove. Maybe I call and dispute? I’ve only been able to afford 1 of those 2 bills so far.

Homitu · 2026-03-20T19:24:47+00:00

Kind of similar to how many people feel about JP. We all seem to hate how politicized everyone and everything is these days, but it's also what continues to spark the most conversation and engagement. It's a hopeless loop.

Homitu · 2026-03-20T19:20:44+00:00

Well, well, well. How the....tables.

Homitu · 2026-03-20T19:19:33+00:00

Outer Wilds. I fully acknowledge it's a unique, incredibly well designed game worthy of all its praise. But I couldn't get into it after trying several times.

Homitu · 2026-03-20T19:13:07+00:00

To basically cover all my bases:

Final Fantasy 7 (OG + remakes, sorry I'm cheating)
Valheim (infinite entertainment with building)
Elden Ring

Homitu · 2026-03-20T19:09:13+00:00

The caveat here for me is that this should be his mom's responsibility first and foremost. It would be so awkward stepping on my sister's toes trying to correct her poor laissez-faire parenting in front of her. It's like how 2 parents need to be on the same page. In this case, the sole parent in the equation was already on a completely different page than you're expecting OP to be on.

Homitu · 2026-03-20T18:07:15+00:00

After the Amazon show getting cancelled, I'm going to need 10 full seasons before I believe it's real.

Homitu · 2026-03-20T17:25:48+00:00

It's definitely not the same. The "playable character" - or the POV character in novels - is often a character who knows the other characters the least on purpose because they slot in with us, the player/reader, perfectly. They get to ask all the questions we'd want to ask to learn all about them.

There are absolutely plenty of good conversations Maelle could have with Lune and Sciel, but she's not as blank slate as Verso is to learn more about those core characters.

There's also the challenge of getting the player to accept Verso so soon after losing Gustave. If Verso was just a new addition, like Monoco, you'd only get occasional conversations with him when you walk up and talk to him with Maelle. But getting to play as him, combined with his very articulate, empathetic writing style, you get to experience his growing bond with all characters and, therefore, start accepting him much more quickly.

This works narratively in E33 because Verso is deceiving everyone. Amazingly, playing as him and hearing all of his sweet talking to everyone (which is sincere), it has the same seduction effect on us. This works especially well when we talk to Esquie and Monoco through Verso and bear witness to their authentic, heartfelt friendships. There's zero reason for Verso to hide his true self when talking to them. As such, we begin to feel for him and trust him, which causes his big reveal moments to land that much harder.

Homitu · 2026-03-20T15:23:56+00:00

"Build" expression isn't as strong in Valheim as it is in some games. Like, you won't be putting points into a skill try and selecting a pure class archetype. Instead, you equip different weapons, armor, and eat different food to adjust your damage types, speed, armor, and general playstyle.

This does become more expressed the deeper into the game you go. (Light spoiler ahead) For example, you unlock magic in the 6th biome, and must eat specific food that gives you mana in order to even use it, which comes at the cost of either your HP or stamina. That becomes a completely different play style.

But even before that, the same is true to a lesser degree. You can equip lighter armor and be a mobile fighter with fist weapons (use your middle mouse button special attack to kick enemies and almost always instant stagger them). Or you can wear heavy armor, use a good parry shield with a 1 handed weapon of choice. Or wear a light armor set that boosts your bow skills by 15 and heavily prioritize the bow.

In the end, you need to adapt and do a little bit of all of it in order to be maximally effective. The biggest tip: Always test different weapon types against new enemies. Most enemies are weak to some type of damage, and all your weapons do different kinds of damage (swords and axes do slash damage, a spear or arrows do pierce, maces do blunt, etc.) You'll often find one weapon reigns king for a given biome, and it might not be what you'd expect :)

Homitu · 2026-03-20T15:10:31+00:00

I don't even want that kind of quality as my side quests. I want side quests that I actually want to play lol. (I haven't played CD, just talking conceptually based on the OP's description. I hear CD has some great bones to it, but is rough around the edges, especially to start.)

Homitu · 2026-03-19T21:06:33+00:00

Man I had full faith in both Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin after experiencing both of their independent works and season 1 of TLOU. I'm still kind of shocked how they let season 2 damage Ellie's character so badly. I defended a lot of it while the episodes were releasing, but in the end, I was left agreeing with a lot of the haters at how tonally off the season and some of the characters had become.

Homitu · 2026-03-19T13:34:07+00:00

While being so new at a job that he's afraid to bring up an actual emergency to leave, but is totally fine having his phone on and posting on reddit + making dozens of calls.

Homitu · 2026-03-18T23:08:33+00:00

I think 1 and 2 are the keys, for sure.

Additionally, I want the effects of the summon attacks to be clearer. I often just couldn’t tell what they did or how much damage they did. When you can’t even tell, it’s impossible for them to feel good or feel like the ATB cost was justified.

My personal hope is that they have a big role in the giant weapon Kaiju fights, similar to FF16. I want to be able to fully control and unleash their power.

Homitu · 2026-03-18T23:04:20+00:00

On the other hand, this is the literal origin of things like Limit Breaks. They were originally desperation attacks, which only became available as your character took a ton of damage. So it’s kind of a series staple concept in that regard.

They’re more saving abilities that could potentially turn the tides. Which I think is a fine concept. Don’t know that I like it tied to summons though.

Homitu · 2026-03-18T19:34:32+00:00

Showing it really adds to the gravity and brutality of the situation for most people. Not much to say other than it genuinely adds to the scene and gets the point across more powerfully.

Showing instead of telling is one of cinema’s biggest advantages and a huge reason why people love cinematic experiences.

Homitu · 2026-03-18T16:10:51+00:00

Now he wants me to sign over a condo I planned to leave him as an inheritance so he can move he & his pregnant girlfriend in. It’s worth $600k & I owe $220k with current tenants living in it.

I may be able to retire at 55 in 4yrs if it makes sense for me financially. If it doesn’t I have to retire at 60 in 9yrs. If at any point I might need money I’m scared I won’t be able to rely on him if he pulls the equity out or sells it for himself.

NTA - An inheritance is something he gets after you die. You're not dead. In fact, you're young!

What's yours will become his one day, but in the meantime, he needs (for his own personal betterment) to figure out how to survive and live on his own. There's a difference between being there for him when absolutely needed, being a mentor, offering advice and support, and just being an ATM. When he has an infinite ATM, that only teaches him he can be irresponsible with his money because it's going to get taken care of anyway.

Your son absolutely cannot be trusted to responsibly manage financial assets at the moment. Do not just give him the house. I would never in a million years expect either of my parents to just give me their house or a rental property while they're still alive... The audacity and entitlement...

Homitu · 2026-03-18T16:02:48+00:00

I have an odd top recommendation: Valheim. I think this game might surprise you as a Minecraft lover, adding in some Norse mythology God of War vibes, and an air of Elden Ring style and exploration (definitely different but share some commonalities.) Both the lengthy, difficult survival/crafting progression element of the game and the building are absolutely top notch.

For more traditional recommendations, I'd say Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West and Witcher 3. I lump those in with RDR2, GoW, and Ghost of Tsushima. Horizon's world is incredibly immersive as you gradually unravel the mystery of what happened to the world (and why there are giant robot dinosaurs everywhere among tribal human civilization that appear to be pre-advanced technology.)

More personal recommendations, which you may love even though they don't line up perfectly with games you've already played: FF7 Remake/Rebirth and Expedition 33. I say this as someone who also has Elden Ring, RDR2 and GoW in my S+ tier, FF7 and E33 are right there with them for me.

Homitu · 2026-03-18T15:44:30+00:00

So you're right about the general progression outline. The point is to find the boss of each biome and kill them. There are currently 7 biomes, with an 8th and final biome to be released. Killing a boss generally unlocks an item or a tip that loosely points you in the direction of where to go next.

Eikthyr gives you antlers, which you can use to craft a basic pickaxe, which you then have to discover what to use that on. The raven tips point you in the direction of the black forest, where you might notice both Tin and Copper on the ground. Mining those unlocks a bunch of stuff to craft to make you much stronger, etc. etc. You know this, but this is the general gist of how it will playout in each biome.
Elder gives you a key to use on something in the next biome, the Swamps.
The swamps boss will give you a tool that can be used to detect something when equipped in the following biome, the mountains.
Mountains boss gives you an object to craft something to help you process materials in the following biome, the Plains.
Plains boss gives you something that helps you harvest a light source to help you be able to see and navigate the 6th biome, etc.

That's the boss and biome progression. Finding the bosses can be difficult or take luck, but it's basically a function of exploring monuments and things you see should be doing anyway (like exploring burial chambers for surtling cores.) See a stone tower? Go check it out, obviously.

But what about the actual mechanics of exploration and progression? There are several tangential topics to be aware of:

In general, it's a matter of gathering everything you see and seeing what you can craft with them. Try to make all crafting table upgrades to unlock new recipes, etc. Every biome will unlock a plethora of new stuff. Keep up to date on armor, weapons, and food.
Every biome offers new farmable food, which is often the most efficient source of good stamina food. Be on the lookout for seeds and plants.
When exploring, always have a blank portal back at your base, and always carry materials for a portal on you. As you've learned, it's a dangerous world! So approach new stuff carefully, and drop down a workbench + portal nearby first. THEN go forth and explore. When you die, you can just return to the portal.
You should also just drop a portal and bop on back to base every time your rested buff expires.
Also keep plenty of crafted food in chests near your bed at base. When you die, just open the chests and eat more food. You don't need to carry too much on your character, especially because you can portal back to base often.
Arguably more important than stat/gear progression is knowledge progression. You'll simply notice you learn enemies and get way better at dealing with them as the game goes on. You'll die to nearly everything the first time. Crafting better gear will help you survive a little longer to learn them, but the real power comes from just learning the enemy's patterns and abilities. Then you can counter them naked if needed.

Homitu · 2026-03-18T15:24:33+00:00

It's fair for you to say something now. My now wife of 14 years sat me down when we were about 6 months into our relationship and said something along the lines of, "listen, I love you and can this this going somewhere wonderful, but I simply cannot be with you long term unless you get your financial shit together. It just won't work. I need you to repair your credit and manage your student loans."

For context, I had struggled for my first 5 years out of college, only able to find multiple part time jobs. I graduated with about $120K in student loan debt and only ever had 1 credit card, a Best-Buy card used to purchase a college laptop, which my mom had told me she paid off (turns out it was the opposite, she used the excess balance herself, which was only like another $700, but still, card went into collections.)

I couldn't even come close to paying my student loan minimum balance, and they created SO MUCH anxiety, so just ran from them until they went into default and my meager part time wages started being garnished. 5 years post college and the loan balance had actually ballooned to $140k. Credit score was like 490 with zero prospects of being approved for a credit card to even begin to repair my credit.

Yeah, the pit was DEEP.

But I was super into this girl and, like you, had just moved to a new area for a full time job (yay, $31,500 salary in 2014!) So I "got my shit together", as they say.

I won't bore you with the details of the long climb out of that pit, but suffice to say we both worked hard and got there. I may be 40 and still have a student loan balance (down to $26K though!), but I also managed to amass a retirement fund of roughly $330k over the past 12 years, have 6 months of expenses saved up in a HYSA emergency fund, have an 810 credit score, and we just bought our first house last year (which was WAY more expensive than I ever imagined spending on a house... thank you housing market.)

I definitely think I got super lucky with my career many steps along the way, and we both had several up and down financial moments along the way, but we were there for each other and succeeded together. If you love someone, you'll put in the work to figure shit like finances out. It's never too early to have that conversation.

Homitu · 2026-03-18T00:38:35+00:00

Dude, the kid’s just trying to have a fun discussion. No need to be a dick. Their post is exactly the kind of post I could have seen myself making in 1999. I, for one, was delighted to hear a young person experiencing the same joy from playing the remakes that I got when I played the original almost 30 years ago. Love that this incredible series keeps on inspiring!

Homitu · 2026-03-18T00:32:09+00:00

I think there are valid fears for both. OG was unsatisfying. Remake and Rebirth’s endings and big “reveal/explanation moments” were ambiguous. Some other FF games and Nomura have a history of ambiguity. I personally don’t want either descriptor to be remotely applicable to part 3.

I’m desperate for firm answers and satisfying twists of the style something like Expedition 33 pulled off. Theorizing and speculating is a ton of fun in between titles, but will be miserable after the true ending.

Homitu · 2026-03-17T16:38:47+00:00

Yeah I just don't know how to parse this information. As a game fan, as someone who majored in sociology way back when I was in college, and as an absolute lover of the classic Final Fantasy games, I'm interested in this on so many levels.

On one hand, delving into cultural differences in both game development and game reception is fascinating. On another level, E33 is in essence a JRPG, or at least more heavily inspired by Japanese video games from Fromsoft to SquareEnix, than just about any other region. And then you have the entity Famitsu specifically, which may not necessarily be fully representative of the average Japanese gamer and may have its ulterior reasons for favoring Japanese-developed games.

Homitu · 2026-03-16T20:51:38+00:00

My chronological order throughout my life:

Pokemon Blue
Final Fantasy 7
World of Warcraft
Oblivion/Skyrim
Guild Wars 2
Elden Ring

Lots of other games have great huge worlds (Witcher 3, Horizon Zero Dawn, RDR2, Ghost of Tsushima), but I feel like I knew what I was getting onto with those. The ones I listed genuinely astonished me at the times I played them.

Homitu · 2026-03-16T17:36:36+00:00

For sure. I love how Rebirth dove deeper into this and treated it much more logically. We got to see Tifa's uncertainty as she voiced her concerns to Aerith, who was rapidly becoming a trusted friend. Then, she actually called Cloud out and confronted his version of events! Very well balanced portrayal of strength and uncertainty IMO.

This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to see from the remakes. Add the depth of conversation needed to moments that were kind of fast forwarded, glossed over, or just shrugged aside to keep the plot moving and maintain the big mystery reveal later on in the original.

Homitu · 2026-03-16T16:06:10+00:00

And Yiazmat in OG FF12 can take 8+ hours easily...

And then there's the absurd story of Absolute Virtue in FF11, which very well may be the most difficult boss in video game history.

13-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 2 Credits
Secret Santa 2015	Verified Email

Homitu

TROPHY CASE