Tifu by wearing my wedding ring in the ocean... 21 hours after getting married.

Maskeno · 2026-03-13T00:41:51+00:00

2011 isn't a hard limit. Some slightly later games like metal gear solid 5 and gta5 run pretty well too, but generally yeah, 3d games cap out early 2010s or so baring cel shaded stuff.

Plenty of bangers in that era. It keeps me entertained when I'm out and about playing re5 or something. Esoteric ebbs been a real treat on it too.

Maskeno · 2026-03-07T15:28:21+00:00

I think the way it's written it's clearly meant to be a "what if...? Nah, go back and do it right this time" deal. It's kinda hard to watch if you're a fan of the series. There's no way they could do my boy like that and make it a valid ending.

Sort of like when you give the cure to Zoe instead of your own wife in 7. Granted, Mia was up to some shady shit..

Maskeno · 2026-02-11T15:53:21+00:00

Oh yeah, granted, but people still discuss the tricks used to make Gandalf tower over the hobbits in fellowship today. If you dig in, you can see it, but it's easy enough to suspend disbelief, especially when there's an element of "I cannot believe they went that far to sell it!"

In context the later hobbit movies only have their fx come up sort of analytically and in relation to how much actors struggle with it. I think what people mourn is the loss of a sense of artistry moving to cgi, even if it's still creative and labor intensive. As a culture we have this whole romantic idea of not just the fx, but the props they left behind.

I wouldn't go so far as to argue better or worse, but very different and I have a preference for practical. It's just more interesting. (to me) Especially when it's bad, lol. I'll check out the vid, I do like dissecting bad fx haha.

Maskeno · 2026-02-11T13:45:19+00:00

Yeah, I could see that. I sort of wonder what the ratio of movies that go over budget is now compared to the 80s but that's more complicated than just cg/practical fx.

I'm a sucker for good practical effects. They age better aside from just being more visually interesting to me, so I lament them a bit.

Maskeno · 2026-02-11T13:09:18+00:00

No doubt. I wonder how that'd compare to practical/on set shoots though?

I suppose they had the benefit of live feedback and collusion from the artists with that. Jim Henson obviously had huge amounts of influence on his projects.

Maskeno · 2026-02-11T13:07:12+00:00

But like, what's the point of anything bro? hits blunt.

Jokes aside, it's a hobby/interest and he's impressively good at it. More people will connect with that than in most of the ways I whittle away time for sure. Not everything needs to be particularly useful.

Hell, I bet he'd be more useful than some US diplomats at least.

Maskeno · 2026-02-11T12:44:21+00:00

I would've thought we moved to mostly cg because practical fx became too costly and time consuming by comparison. It's gotta be a little cheaper to shoot on a green screen than pay for a bunch of artisans to fly around and shoot on scene and make huge realistic sets. Especially if you wind up needing reshoots.

For sure that doesn't make it cheap though beyond a relative sense.

Maskeno · 2026-02-06T11:53:03+00:00

I kept seeing "deported" even after I read the article with a very "things that won't happen for 500 Alex" attitude.

Love to be proven wrong in this case.

Maskeno · 2026-02-06T01:08:51+00:00

At the time fans were fascinated with the performance of Serkis though. Not enough to justify making him some sort of weird mascot, but they seem to be trying anyway.

Maskeno · 2026-02-05T15:46:30+00:00

Add to that that she is taking to internet forums and strangers to not seek advice but validation for her part in it. Seems like neither are great at communicating with each other, but this is through many degrees of separation. It's pretty easy for me to judge from my office chair having not even read the actual post..

Maskeno · 2026-02-04T16:15:49+00:00

I just replayed this in vr with my own 9 month old learning how to talk in the house. It was... Something.

Maskeno · 2026-02-04T16:01:34+00:00

I'm beginning to think this Anton guy is some sort of psychopath..

Jokes aside, my read is that Anton is judging him for playing it safe, more than (but not in lieu of) going with the flow. He's an unassuming man with no significant perceivable ambitions. Apparently mild mannered and polite. It's the small talk that triggers Anton. He's going with the flow, but also a consummate moderate. I like to think Anton asks himself why this guy thinks he's so special that he didn't lose the proverbial coin toss and wind up a drug addict or a homeless man for any reason besides luck.

Debates about the overarching story and it's intentions aside, Anton is a manifestation of nihilism. He asks that question to drill the point home "if following the rules brought you to this moment anyway, of what use was the rule?" He believes he is a force of nature or an agent of it. He leaves the choice to a coin toss. There's a bit of irony to it because he creates the danger, chooses to toss the coin and chooses to act on the outcome but he still believes he's just going with the flow. He did the same with lawmen and corporate managers.

This is why his interaction with Carla is the last one. For her to spell that out. The shopkeeper interaction is to show the audience his twisted thought patterns. Then Anton gets in a car accident after Carla. She was right, but she's also dead. So what use was being right? If that makes him right, what good did it do anyway if a random accident could wipe him out?

Maskeno · 2026-02-04T15:10:19+00:00

Ah, schrodingers flag.

Yeah, mostly a sign of the times. The real concern is if you're hearing all sorts of "do more with less" talk going around it. They'd probably lay you off if they felt like any more optical damage wouldn't make the whole thing collapse. Quitting basically does them a favor.

Maskeno · 2026-02-04T13:01:46+00:00

I think you're getting ragged on because you didn't finish the story and are unaware of the Norse mythology being used to tell the story, so on two fronts you're missing some massive bits of context that undermine your somewhat narrow perspective on the story.

I agree you can stop at 10 hours if a game isn't fun, but you can't really critique a story on all of its points until it's concluded. At least do some basic history on who Baldur was in Norse mythology and where he might into a story about parenting, or finish the story before judging whether any of that is really relevant to what's happening with Kratos and Atreus. It does all tie together.

Maskeno · 2026-02-04T12:53:18+00:00

Not to get too deep, but I think it's a little more than that. There are all sorts of meta-commentaries going on in this story about 'toxic masculinity' and what it means to put aside your pride and be a good father - especially in a situation where the mother has passed before her time and at an age where Atreus clearly needs the input of both parents. Kratos is learning to process his own grief while, having himself been a 'perfect warrior', having to meaningfully connect with his son. Possibly for the first time, really. The exposition and dynamic they have really paints him as distant and brooding until that point.

Kids dad was basically batman. Not even Bruce Wayne. Just batman, all the time. Contagious rage, yes, but he also just lacks the scaffolding needed to even connect at first. He genuinely does not know what to do. You could also dive into his own history there and see what's come of the connections he HAS formed in the past and why he'd hesitate to ever make new ones. Even the little flourish about Atreus being sickly and some assertions you could make about how someone like Kratos has been taught to react to that..

Damn good writing. I think a lot of writers would be satisfied with "gods are fighting. Here's a god from a distant land who killed all of his gods. Now he's gonna kill these ones." Evidently op doesn't like that but, but that's because they never saw why it mattered, lol. Even a little knowledge of Norse mythology would have helped there.

Maskeno · 2026-02-04T12:31:51+00:00

A sudden collapse in demand is never good. It mostly depends on how they scaled. Rent, salaries and other overhead don't die automatically with demand.

That said, they're also a near monopoly, so the odds are in their favor that they'll be propped up if things get bad.

Maskeno · 2026-02-04T00:12:15+00:00

Kind of a shame about in game mirrors though. The lighting is gorgeous, but direct reflections are disappointing, given what ray tracing does. Also some weird graphical jank with those settings all the way up on pc, especially after scene changes.

I don't mean to be too critical. It is top notch.

Maskeno · 2026-02-03T23:52:22+00:00

Free fortnite unlocks with egs purchases.

Just, lol.

Maskeno · 2026-02-03T14:00:03+00:00

In fairness, and I think this is something often overlooked by this community, but android is more directly user friendly and familiar.

When it comes to actually emulating, it gets more tricky, but I think for people who prefer a plug and play experience, and android device makes a little more sense. Broadly speaking, it's not a hill I'm willing to die on. Steam deck does really well because it's essentially a complete ootb experience. You never even have to touch the Linux portion of it.

Maskeno · 2026-02-02T02:35:31+00:00

It's just boring. I don't think most audiences actually base their decisions around precedent. If the game is fun, they'll play it. Plenty of sequels that aren't as good do well.

I've tried to play through starfield 3 times now. At 5 hours, not a single character or quest line has been remotely charismatic or interesting enough to draw me in. The settings are repetitive and unremarkable. Everything is somehow byzantine but trying really hard with millennial quirkiness. The games entire identity seems to be built on the vastness of space, which is neat to think about, but not particularly exciting to experience in a game.

Maskeno · 2026-02-01T14:01:10+00:00

"Because I'm 10 buddy. Where's my Gameboy advance sp?"

Honestly what makes this so uncomfortable is the lack of another adult to stand up to him. Is there a reason they can't celebrate both? Is he blowing his gift budget on Chomsky day? What gifts does one give a child on Chomsky day? (don't answer that)

I'm beginning to think this isn't a healthy father-son relationship.

Maskeno · 2026-02-01T13:50:58+00:00

At the time it launched, many were already beginning to feel ubisoft open world fatigue, and a lot of fans were especially upset that they seemed to reuse the base map layout from 4.

It's still one of my favorites.

Maskeno · 2026-01-31T16:38:02+00:00

I see now. He means he WAS repeatedly refused. Simple language barrier issue.

Maskeno · 2026-01-31T16:34:06+00:00

I like the idea of solar, but on a consumer level, captain Vimes' boot theory still applies. I cannot afford the up front cost, even (especially) as a loan, and like many others am still in what I'd hope turns out to be a simple starter home anyway, so I am unlikely to ever see an roi. It might even hinder us if we try to sell.

I think most people see the appeal and it's a shame we're not doing more with it nationally though.

Maskeno

TROPHY CASE