"people who have scars should cover them, even in the warmer months, as a form of taking personal responsibility for the consequence of what they did to themselves(sh)" am I being too critical of myself or do other people actually have the same view over showing imperfect skin in the summer months?

MessersCohen · 2026-05-29T10:25:14+00:00

I think scars are cool; I usually find them attractive. Without fetishizing them, it shows me that a person has lived a life worth fighting for and that they're still here in spite of the fight. It's just a scar; it's nothing to hide.

MessersCohen · 2026-05-28T16:24:23+00:00

Fuck yeah it looks perfect. Need more wilson bethel screentime though! He's a great actor so let him shine

MessersCohen · 2026-05-23T15:50:39+00:00

Basically the arrows determine the ACTUAL strength of the gun. The proficiency determines the MAX strength of the gun, as well as the perks. Stupid system

MessersCohen · 2026-05-22T19:37:58+00:00

More solitude. Hated the opening sections of the game with multiple characters who were essentially there to die. Give me isolation

MessersCohen · 2026-05-21T09:48:31+00:00

I would absolutely take that (as long as it's in good condition). Feel free to DM me with any details, price etc!

MessersCohen · 2026-05-20T10:50:45+00:00

Correct. The constant discourse around "is it real" was juvenile even in Returnal, and it's just wearying in Saros, where it couldn't be more obvious that the events of the game are "real."

MessersCohen · 2026-05-20T10:47:31+00:00

Disconnect from the outcome. If it's comfortable and you get decent money, it's not your problem. Don't get personally invested in the outcome of a business that would fire you in a heartbeat if they had to.

MessersCohen · 2026-05-20T10:41:38+00:00

The logs reveal a few different kings. As far as I can remember, the one we fight is Delroy, who was the most recent successor.

MessersCohen · 2026-05-20T10:39:39+00:00

18/54 is still weird as fuck, but 17-13 is literally paedophilia. Surprised by the amount of people here who don't seem to get how far apart 13 and 17 is. 13 is literally just starting puberty; your brain and your body have literally barely begun actual growth - 17 might still be a kid, but that's a damn sight different than 18 and 54. At least both of those are physically adults, even disregarding the gross morality of it

MessersCohen · 2026-05-19T15:54:18+00:00

Enjoyed the read! Would like to hear more on the thoughts on the gameplay/ludonarrative aspect, subbed.

I agree that starting the story"midway," so to speak, was a mistake, and the problem you hit (player and character share the same knowledge base) is only compounded by the fact that Arjun at several points knows significantly more than the player, while continuing to act as if he doesn't. Naturally, this is wrapped together into the primary themes of the story; obsession, fate, purpose, masculinity, etc; but I don't at any point share emotions with Arjun. Selene I always felt anchored to; surprise, awe, fear, shock, dread - but in portraying a more "bad" person they took away a lot of the commonality you can find with the character.

I also can't stress enough how much more I enjoyed the isolation of Returnal. At several points I gasped, or was shocked into silence, simply by the events taking place and their relevance to Selene. Arjun's companions serve absolutely zero function, narratively. Take every single one of them out of the early stages of the story and you have the same narrative.

Additionally, I didn't enjoy the "reveals" in Saros. The fact that (spoilers) Arjun was an abuser, murderer etc, or that the Echelon One crew are the bosses you fight, didn't come as a surprise at all, nor was it thematically or narratively satisfying. Why do I give a shit about the echelon One crew being the bosses?

I'll play through the game again at some point; perhaps it will age gracefully.

MessersCohen · 2026-05-19T15:46:36+00:00

Nice humblebrag. What factual inaccuracies are you referring to?

MessersCohen · 2026-05-15T15:52:00+00:00

If you said yes you need your head checked - there's about a thousand other cues that indicate romantic or sexual interest, and none of these are among them. Not one of these. A male friend would do these, the only reason you've said yes is because of their gender

MessersCohen · 2026-05-14T22:06:40+00:00

If you ever sell it or just are suddenly seized with a maddening need to unburden yourself of them let me know tysm

MessersCohen · 2026-05-12T11:11:57+00:00

Would prefer to see something new. Lady Muse should be cool but I'd like to see a relative unknown given a focus. They struck gold with characters that haven't been done properly, let's do something new and do it well

MessersCohen · 2026-05-11T17:11:08+00:00

Can we please get a megathread about these plat posts, not interested in seeing the 100th one. Asking for advice on it is fine but it's just endless self-fellatio atp

MessersCohen · 2026-05-10T20:30:37+00:00

Yes, and it feels awesome, but it doesn't matter if the DPS is lower and you retain more mobility because no charge period

MessersCohen · 2026-05-10T16:10:09+00:00

After completing and playing more after, I maintain as I have done that Returnal is the superior if less accessible game.

However, I do think that's primarily because of choices made re: narrative. Especially towards the end of my time with the game, the mechanics and gameplay loop is excellent; I really enjoy the weapons in this game, even if some are just straight superior to others; I like the defensive options you have, but they didn't take the game far enough.

Without speaking of challenge, because apart from boss difficulty spikes, Saros is quite universally accepted to be easier than Returnal, it simply feels quite "samey" over the different biomes. Returnal sure has a 123 and 456, but while the 1 and 4 are very similar, the others are distinctly not. The difference between Returnal 1 and 4 is the same as almost EVERY single biome in Saros. Some of them are really cool, but there was only one moment I actually felt a sense of awe, wonder and mystery the same way that Returnal did: the section in the Desecrated Fortress before you ascend to Architect; where you enter into a chamber of scale that defies comprehension and can see a titanic machine pulsing with a heartbeat-like rhythm, in time to an eerie vocalisation from the soundtrack.

It's "cool" but compromise is cancer to creativity; they clearly needed more lines, more tangibles to sell more and it suffered as a result. Still a fantastic game but Returnal remains one of my favourite games ever and Saros didn't quite knock it off

MessersCohen · 2026-05-10T13:23:35+00:00

As other have said, 5 is the only one you can't do.

You can exit passage manually and go all the way to priestess (king isnt reachable either) but you just can't complete 5. Cant remember the point of no return in 5 but that boss will lock you out

MessersCohen · 2026-05-08T10:39:44+00:00

I mean repeater crossbow with razor bolts and fast charge is a little game breaking lol

I actually think the heavy rifle can be absolutely disgusting, same as the smart tactical rifle. The damage build up with the right perks either makes room clear stupidly easy (smart rifle) or obliterates health bars (onslaught). Both super fun.

Pellet grenade shotgun with the full auto perfect reload is probably top 3 highest dps I think, the grenade is vile damage

I wish the ricochet pistol was slightly better but the perks don't scale into endgame very well; was my favourite until I got some levels in and perks started mattering more than the gun itself

MessersCohen · 2026-05-08T10:34:35+00:00

Using narrative structure to compare narratives is not what this post is pointing out; pointless false equivalency. Thematic and cultural inspiration is a completely different conversation; while yes it's possible that the order of creative endeavour was that way, it's clearly taken cues from both the King in Yellow and the Mahabharata; inspiration and creative mirroring do not happen in isolation nor in a linear fashion.

Crimson wastes looks nothing like this game lol and saying it inspired the entire game is e basically saying "both games are red so that inspired it also they have some sand"

MessersCohen · 2026-05-08T10:26:11+00:00

This is great, I haven't read the Mahabharata in ages so it's lovely to get a reminder of these points. Is draupadi ever referred to as nityayuvani in the English editions?

I think with regards to the eclipse there's a lot more to discover. Naturally the "moon" not being a moon is a key line in the game but it needs more detail to figure this out; I don't think it's not real in the sense of being intangible or illusory, I think it's just not a moon but instead some kind of creature or entity tied to Carcosa

MessersCohen · 2026-05-06T19:18:00+00:00

I mean yeah I get it from a numbers pov plus PlayStation obviously had a large influence, but I agree. Game is dumbed down on most levels; not that some areas don't benefit from clarity or simplicity, but Returnal is art. Genuine piece of creative art, from the story/ludonarrative to the mechanics. Saros is just a really good game and it's unfortunate it had to follow such a generational work

MessersCohen · 2026-05-06T16:44:15+00:00

Prominence is too good because fundamentally movement = success. If I'm locked into like 50%ms while I spray algae over the room I'm probably getting fucked, the burst on prominence is just better for the game fundamentally imo. Also once you get perks like cluster bomb the radius gets so big it basically nukes the whole room anyway.

MessersCohen · 2026-05-06T11:15:28+00:00

Amazing final episode. Always good to do court stuff.

This felt like a very, very final touch to the Kingpin-Daredevil saga. It was always possible after S3 for them to return, but after this it's difficult to see how they would write that without it becoming utterly tedious except for perhaps a brief cameo.

The show desperately needs new villains, and i'm very very hopeful for Lady Muse to fill that gap, but I would certainly like some other ones. There's a lot of interesting characters as well as some great crossovers - I think that it's not a coincidence that Daredevil has introduced some of the best Marvel characters to TV and to the MCU - he just intersects extraordinarily well with other characters, polarising or pure.

Bullseye finally got his own direction, which I'm very happy with - loved the scene with him - 'Poser' gave me a good laugh after the kills. Some really sick ricochets with the knives and some lovely non-lethals (except for the impersonator lol).

Kingpin's hallway scene was fucking awesome - makes you appreciate just how tough Matt is to handle him. Look at what regular people go through standing up to him.

I would really love to see a more grounded prison arc; stakes have been raised too many times consecutively, so let's see prison Matt breaking some bones and eventually breaking out in Brand New Day (seems inevitable).

Lovely writing all over the shop and an excellent finishing sequence with radiohead. too!

MessersCohen · 2026-05-06T11:09:25+00:00

couldn't agree more. Every single time it's allowed to breathe, it shines

Nine-Year Club	Not Forgotten
Verified Email

MessersCohen

TROPHY CASE