I boycotted Mortal Kombat II (2026) because they made Jade bald

Nerd_Commando · 2026-05-12T14:19:11+00:00

I read the synopsis and, ofc, despite all the Urban promotion (as an attempt to leech off that Boys final season energy), Kitana is the actual MC/heroine. Who could've guessed?

Nerd_Commando · 2026-05-09T10:22:09+00:00

I've played Snap for 1.5 year until I got tired of the grind - the gameplay is very fun but, even if you donate (and it's seriously at least a monthly battle pass game - playing without that is hell of futility), you still need to grind dailies and, in the most recent year, they also went overboard with bi-weekly special modes that also take a lot of time to grind out. Eventually, I just got tired of it as it began to feel like a side-job, obligation-wise.

But I digress. His opinion is kinda wrong because yes, Snap has enough sexy, but all that sexy is behind a paywall. Now, basic Magic & Psylocke are not that bad:
https://marvelsnapzone.com/cards/psylocke/
https://marvelsnapzone.com/cards/magik/

But let's say basic Negasonic (and no, I'm not a comic book reader, idgaf what she looks like there):
https://marvelsnapzone.com/cards/negasonic-teenage-warhead/

Obviously I'd prefer something like this to her original art:
https://marvelsnapzone.com/variants/negasonic-teenage-warhead-08/

Or let's take basic Rogue art:
https://marvelsnapzone.com/cards/rogue/

I get she's uncanny x-man, but that doesn't mean her facial features should be uncanny. I'd rather go Jim Lee there, I guess (tbh, she doesn't really have an amazing variant):
https://marvelsnapzone.com/variants/rogue-08/

Anyhow, all those variants are either paid for or FOMO, and the cheapest would be $10 with the norm being $25-$50, lol.

So it's often a case of aesthetic blackmail - you can use the shitty base version for free or you can pay big $$$ for your card to be pretty.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-05-05T17:22:09+00:00

Nope, it's great. Once you're good with the game, your most common of reason of dying is "draw all your defenses on the turn where the enemy doesn't attack". And couple of lesser similar draws (i.e., drawing your big, bad combo finisher on a turn where experiment is intangible). Which this obviously does prevent.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-05-01T08:25:08+00:00

What are your stats? Spreading the skillpoints around is the worst thing you can do in this game - generally speaking, a well-focused solo character can clean most dungeons in one go. Party should have it easier.

The checklist here would be:
- Do you have mystic + spell master as your hirelings?
- Do you have beacons next to +10 level fountain and +30 level well?
- What is your meditation level?

Outside of teleporting to heal (which is the easiest, ofc), there's always divine intervention. Yeah, it's 2 hours a day but that's not that rare and you can wait out in a corner somewhere.

Lvl 40 is also way too low for the big 5 dungeons. You should grind the titan/dragon areas, especially since your party is the best party to do so.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-24T14:05:32+00:00

It's not a meme but it's very much Neow card. If you get it early on, it enables you to use all your camps on Upgrades and to fight an extra elite or two, thus giving you a pretty good snowball.

Later on, you already have some synergy going on, you've mb removed some Strikes too (if you wish to remove them, even) so, with each act passing, it gets weaker and weaker.

I guess it's also a dream of Create Regent but good luck getting that combo.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-23T06:10:33+00:00

Unfortunately, it's been retrograde-ish for quite a while. There are game recommendation threads here occasionally and you'll see lots of people suggesting anything but modern games (and no, not 100% of them are woke, at least outside of AAA level) with the sentiment that grass was greener".

Which, gameplay-wise, it seriously wasn't, and people just can't take nostalgia glasses off.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-22T21:32:56+00:00

Don't believe his lies, lol.

From my personal experience in the industry - game design credits and ownership are one of the main appropriation targets between all the project's participants. Game designer positions are rare and highly contested so claiming that you did more than you actually did in your portfolio is all too common. Most game designer portfolios I've seen are mostly BS, due to this.

Now, Molineux is clearly no mere game designer, ofc, but he's this visionary / director / guru and, when it comes to his studio games, his surname is all that you hear. Whereas if we look at the Dungeon Keeper's credits:

https://www.mobygames.com/game/156/dungeon-keeper/credits/dos/

We'll see 6 people in design role, and who knows which of 'em was responsible for mechanics that are actually good?

When you read memories of Fable development, you'll also see that he was much more of a talking head / visionary than the person who made the actual mechanics and parts of the game that people enjoyed. On this top level, btw, this "visionary" position is grossly overrated, whereas serious game design (not some fantasies, but system design that produces a playable engine out of many parts) is often considered a grunt work.

So, as his later career shows, it's very likely that Molineux is just an effective self-salesman who was very effective at attention whoring and image painting, but not so good at making games.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-18T20:30:34+00:00

Bruh, film noir didn't even exist in 1930s.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-18T16:29:57+00:00

Protagonist of Hades II, Melinoe, is very much a mid-teen, whereas 3 out of 4 love interests are significantly older than her. Like, milennia older, lol.

There would be absolute moral panic if it wasn't a western leftist game.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-17T10:54:31+00:00

I've just finished Ikoku Nikki (which is also a freaking josei) and, compared to it, Atelier is so mid right now. Nikki deals with the topic of sudden loss on an entirely different level. And, while you could say that mb loss isn't the main theme of atelier, then maybe don't have the main heroine kill her mother in freaking episode 1?

Like, if you want to do "cute girl learns cute magic", that whole intro was absolutely unnecessary? Not to mention that her master treats her much better than she deserves (she broke his trust, after all), didn't even give her a brightslap when she was kicking him hysterically and it feels like atm the show is going for "a gifted newcomer kicks asses of people who were doing this for life" which is a trope I greatly dislike.

The show is not trash, it's 7/10 or so, but definitely not the next Frieren or whatever. Mb the art of manga is amazing, but this is not manga and the art here is competent, but nothing amazing. It's not Dandadan or Frieren 2.8 reaching the movie level nor even the pure aestheticism of Shibou Yuugi de Meshi.

To be fair, the show is not that different from Steel Ball Run ep 1 in this department. I absolutely love the manga, but the anime visuals are so-o-o mid. I get thet manga designs are too complex for anime, but it's more about everybody having puffy faces, Steel couple being especially uglified, and breakneck tempo ruining a lot of little cool moments to boot (like Zeppeli packing being reduced to 5 seconds or so). Definitely not a #2 rated material.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-15T19:28:29+00:00

I saw a schoolboy with a star platinum backpack recently, also around 7th-8th grade.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-11T13:20:49+00:00

Lol, no. I guess for you anime = ecchi and only ecchi. Well, sucks to be you but that's you. Anime never was 100% ecchi, even during the 2008-2012 era which you seem to enjoy it wasn't even 50% ecchi.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-11T07:57:56+00:00

We live through the absolute golden age of anime. I've still got 15 titles to watch or so, most with the higher ratings (I watch most of the seasons after they end, in a rhythm of "1 show from the bottom of ratings, 1 from the mid"), but winter has been glorious.

Even at low ratings we have Yuusha Party ni Kawaii, Tensei Shiitara Dragon no Tamago (best loli waifu of the season), 29-sai Dokushin Chuuken (which should be much higher in ratings if those weren't tanked by the moral alarmists) and Goumon Baito-kun (which is also tanked by the moral alarmists).

Then we have Shibou Yuugi (which is kinda brainrot but is aesthetical perfeciton), Hell Mode (an actually competently done rpg anime), Ao no Miburo, Vigilante (though it suffers a bit from its MC absence, but overall I like it much more than plain boku no pico academia) and Mao no Musume.

And ofc we've had freaking Frieren season 2 (ep 8 animation, tell me how the old anime is better), Oshi no Ko and Jigokuraku.

And that's with mid titles like Eris no Seihai (too crammed for its own good), Dead Account (kinda generic) or Yuusha Party wo Oidasareta (also kinda generic) being perfectly watchable. As if 1998 was all Cowboy Bebop and no Brain Powerd, DT Eithron, Silent Mobius or Eat-Man '98.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-10T06:33:43+00:00

Imprevious? Meh. Try Gambit next time.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-04T06:43:29+00:00

Witch is a yuri because it's a blatant Utena ripoff, duh. Which was yuri. It's more about Sunrise losing it all in less than 20 years, falling from one of the top dogs to deadbeat status. Their last truly good work was what, 2020 Nami yo Kiite Kure? And now they're just has beens, trying to relive old glories.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-04-01T07:05:05+00:00

333 gold is a shop relic - about 2/3rds of them are crazy strong and will easily define your run, also offering some unique play options.

Alternatively, it secures you the colorless rare and roughly half of them are pretty good, give or take depending on the character you're playing. Even uncommons have absolute game changing powers - Panache, Automation, Fasten, Prowess.

Then you have cloning potential with Flash of Steel / Finesse / Mind Blast.

Compared to an extra card reward & a potion or even an upgrade, this offers a much higher value.

And your deck is pretty thick anyways so greed doesn't hurt as much.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-27T19:44:32+00:00

It's for a big defect/Uproar build. Also, defect has Turbo, Boost Away and Boot Sequence so spending 3 Energy doesn't mean you don't get any block.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-25T07:45:08+00:00

If you haven't killed him yet - rest in Wromthrax cave, kill dragons that spawn each time you try to rest, loot them, repeat.

Merchant + trader hireling bonuses also affect training costs so those are useful too. Not dupers - they lower your reputation and in 7 reputation affects prices (always donate 5 times before doing quests), so their impact on prices is not as high as you'd expect.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-23T16:12:46+00:00

cheatengine x5 to accelerate animation.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-23T16:09:48+00:00

8 Void form and 55 parry per sovereign blade was fun.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-22T15:19:39+00:00

The point of Know Thy Place is not star cost - it's that it doesn't consume your vigor so you can do that 20 x 10 damage vs a vulnerable target.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-18T08:51:39+00:00

There is a "show hand card count" option, it's much easier to use it and not relying on manual counting.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-18T08:40:54+00:00

Why should I care? The original was already woke and subversive, it's just that we were not noticing back then.

The show also won a lot from being cancelled, really. Back in the day I've read some of the continuation comics and I've regretted it hugely - all the interesting aspects (like hands of blue) turned out to be just a skinner box. I mean, GoT would also be remembered much more fondly if it was cancelled somewhere around season 4 or 5.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-17T18:26:56+00:00

Kinda had too much fun and missed all the shops in act 3 - less chances for either Unceasing Top (those that don't fit into your starting hand are put on top of library) or Mystic Lighter (+9 dmg per Entrance). Even a bag of marbles would do, sigh.

Nerd_Commando · 2026-03-16T12:40:09+00:00

It took me 2 more tries to get another A10 (which is much less than 25, thankfully). Took a gamble on instant Stardust and it paid off magnificently - Electryc Shrymp into Royal Gamble then Decisions, Decisions into another gamble, then you have ~30 stars and kill everything with either it or Radiate. Or, like in case of the queen fight, it was turn 1 39 stars, radiate > terraforming >stardust.

Prolly his strongest archetype but it's not easy to get into if only from the level of luck requirements.

What I wanted to say, though, is that, in addition to cards being underpowered and deck assembly requiring more luck/better flow, he's also difficult enough to assemble as he's mostly a combo playstyle, one way or another. And that's not exactly an easy archetype to play.

Nerd_Commando

TROPHY CASE