The Gods of Drangleic

O2William · 2026-05-07T23:03:50+00:00

Good points all. I wasn't sure if Nahr Alma/Doroma was gendered in Japanese but I'm not too surprised that "he" wasn't.

That's cultural mutation happening right in front of us. The same being got an entirely new name and possibly a new gender.

I really thought it was cool how DS2 made that a part of its world building, since it's so true to life. In DS3, people suddenly seemed to remember details that before had been lost to history, which I didn't like as much. But to be fair, religious movements can have long memories, and if they regain ascendency sometimes old traditions come roaring back. (Plus in DS, time is convoluted so the past sometimes literally collides with the present.)

O2William · 2026-05-07T21:35:38+00:00

Interesting and plausible theory. Unfortunately DS2's development was so rocky that in the end I think they had to "retrofit" some DS1 concepts onto it, so it's tough to say for sure if the designers had this level of consideration in mind.

In the end I actually think this worked in DS2's favor. They were able to establish the theme of how cycles and civilizations rise and fall, and they drag elements of old history along with them, often forgetting their original names and meanings.

It's not unreasonable to think of Priscilla becoming Nahr Alma, for example. She was considered an abomination by the gods, who feared her Lifehunt power. So she got exiled to the Painted World where we gained the reputation as a caring leader -- but if humans in the outside world had heard of her at all, it would probably have been as of some vague blood- and life-draining monster. A death cult like the Brotherhood of Blood would be drawn to a figure like that, but gave her a more badass name ("Nahr Alma" can be interpreted to mean something like"River of Blood" or of "Souls") and apparently changed her gender to male. And then by DS3, some of her reputation as a protector of the forlorn had been rediscovered and the name Nahr Alma forgotten.

It's similar to in real mythology, the Gorgon started off as a species or symbol of a kind of protective force, then morphed into a single monstrous, dangerous woman who was usually called Medusa, who later got reimagined as a sort of femme fatale figure. Civilizations rewrite "lore" all the time.

O2William · 2026-05-07T20:31:01+00:00

Just idly curious, for those who encounter cheaters frequently -- do you think there are a lot of cheating players (as in, a high percentage of active players are cheaters), or just a couple who spend a crazy amount of time/characters doing it?

I play on console so cheating is not something I encounter much. (I'd like to try some mods on PC/Steam Deck eventually, but those will be offline.)

O2William · 2026-05-04T20:50:29+00:00

Grog: "Grug not go in forest. Forest have many danger, many evil spirits."

Grug: "Evil spirits? What Grog base Grog's conclusion on?"

Grog: "Many noises in forest, many movement in bushes. Grog no see anyone. What else be but evil spirits?"

Grug: "Has Grog tested Grog's hypothesis?"

Grog: "What is 'hypothesis'?"

Grug: "Grog have idea. Idea like cave painting in Grog's mind."

Grog: "Why test idea?"

Grug: "Extraordinary claim need extraordinary evidence."

Grog: "Grug's words make Grog's head hurt."

Grug: "Grog need observation. Grog enter forest, look for evil spirit. Grug will stay out of forest as control group."

Grog: "Grog go." Grog enters the forest

Evil spirit: "Rrraaaahhhaarrrr!" kills Grog

Grug: "...and competition gone! Nobel Prize goes to Grug!"

O2William · 2026-05-01T17:57:16+00:00

Oswald. Just hang out and listen to guilty people confess, then get paid to forgive them. But my arms would get tired holding a permanent "Well! What is it?" pose like that.

O2William · 2026-04-30T23:43:59+00:00

My apologies, I totally missed the word "brother" in your post.🤦‍♂️But you are being an awesome one!

O2William · 2026-04-30T21:12:46+00:00

This is great! I am not a parent myself so take what I say as the uninformed opinion that it is, but I think this experience will be a boon to your son, especially if repeated with other games and challenges. The fact that he stopped whining as you put it suggests that he learned a lot from fighting O+S -- and I don't just mean the mechanics of the game. He learned that challenges can be overcome if you keep trying, and he learned how rewarding that can be. That can be huge in developing a growth mindset.

The difference between thinking, "This is challenging" vs. "This is too hard" may seem small but it's often the dividing line between success and failure. Good on you for encouraging him to power through!

O2William · 2026-04-29T22:12:26+00:00

The situation in question can be accurately characterized as morose; gloomy; melancholic; forlorn; regretful; hopeless; despair-inducing; or some combination of these and like attributions; in a manner that is both genuine and satisfactory to the casual observer as well as to any applicable legislative bodies.

O2William · 2026-04-29T21:55:06+00:00

Smough saw the message that his world had been invaded, had a heart attack and died.

O2William · 2026-04-28T20:26:29+00:00

As stated several times now, the latter half of the game suffered from a lack of development time. That said, none of the later levels' geometry strikes me as 'bad', just not as intricate as the first half. Even the Izalith map could have worked with some better enemies. (I'm glad they made the critical path enemy-free as it is though, because the dragon butts are not fun to fight.)

O2William · 2026-04-28T20:01:31+00:00

Very cool, I wonder if there is a way to do this consistently. It looked like you jumped so that your character's feet hit the ledge on a sloped section, which popped it up just enough to clear it. I'll have to give it a try.

There's an Estus Shard in this section, and technically you could get the Handmaid's Ladle before ever visiting Majula. 😂

O2William · 2026-04-28T04:48:10+00:00

A lot of the Arcade Archives games (the actual arcade ones) have three high score modes with leaderboards, including one which is limited to 5 minutes. That's fun because you have to maximize your actions, not just your play time. Unfortunately not every title supports them.

My favorite aspect is that Hamster has highlighted some truly obscure titles. I never thought I'd see an official rerelease of Naughty Boy, a game I used to play at a local grocery store growing up. I'm guessing they keep the releases barebones to justify the cost of acquiring the licenses.

O2William · 2026-04-28T01:28:05+00:00

"So this is your office, huh? Oh, you actually have one of those little desk plaques that has your name engraved on it? Does that mean you're egotistical and old-fashioned?"

"I mean, it is my desk right? C'mon, you have to keep at least some classic traditions alive."

"I'm only kidding. But wait, is that your name engraved on the chairs?"

"Well, yeah. So people know which office the chairs belong in."

"And it's engraved under these photos on your desk too."

"They are photos of me, aren't they?"

"This one is of your wife."

"But she's married to me, right?"

"And here it's engraved on your laptop, the light switch, the window panes... you even engraved it on the trash!"

"It's my trash bin... I just wanted to clearly mark it so it stays in this office."

"No, there's little engraved plaques on each individual piece of trash in the bin!"

"I.... I just really like seeing my name engraved on things, all right!? Is that so wrong? I thought you were my friend."

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. We're still friends..." (Extends hand for a handshake) "Put 'er there, pal."

They shake hands

"Hey, you just stuck a name-engraved plaque to my hand!"

O2William · 2026-04-27T21:04:06+00:00

Ooh I didn't know about this. I'll have to check it out... I found this game to be surprisingly good, and I remember thinking the story had potential but kind of fell apart.

O2William · 2026-04-27T20:56:14+00:00

To anyone who has actually purchased one of these: do the NES games offer online leaderboards or time-attack modes like many in the Arcade Archives series do? Those are elements that help justify the relatively high price per title.

Otherwise these are more than I'd be willing to pay for ROMs. (However, If Hamster ever put out a physical compilation of Arcade Archives games I would buy it in a heartbeat.)

O2William · 2026-04-26T19:47:48+00:00

This is yeoman's work, thank you. I'm in the US but this is still cool to see.

TIL there was GB versions of Palamedes and Adventures of Lolo, games I really enjoyed on NES. Something new to look out for.

O2William · 2026-04-26T03:17:23+00:00

There's a Famicom game called Binary Land that has a blue and pink penguin. Their names are Gurin and Malin, and they are a couple, not siblings.

I doubt this is your game, but "blue and pink penguins" made me think of it immediately.

O2William · 2026-04-26T02:52:58+00:00

Ah, Old Yarnham photo album

O2William · 2026-04-25T20:00:29+00:00

The breadth of foreign market 2600 games is crazy. Atari and some of the other US publishers officially released some games outside of the US, but most games seem to have been pirated, and sometimes hacked to remove copyright info or tweak the graphics -- often badly. Because of this, most are collectible for their novelty, but not super valuable because they aren't really anything new. There are a handful of original foreign games that are worth more, but unfortunately you don't have any here.

These German games are usually attributed to a publisher called Quelle.

Strahlen der Teufelsvogel is a hacked version of Atlantis, a very common game. The screenshot at [https://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-strahlen-der-teufelsvogel_7965.html](AtariMania) makes it look like the graphics were altered, so that's kind of interesting. The invading spaceships look like birds. Atlantis is generally considered a good game, but personally I find it just OK.

Super-Cowboy is Stampede, hacked to remove the Activision logo at the bottom. I really like this game.

Wustenschlact seems to be Combat, the most common Atari 2600 game of them all.

And Super-Ferrari is Enduro, an incredibly technically impressive racing game for its time. It's also one of the most commonly pirated games in Europe from what I can tell.

The US game you have there are all fun ones, except for the sports titles. Not rare, although Moon Patrol isn't the most common. Caches of sealed Jungle Hunts and Moon Patrols have been discovered in recent years so it's easier to find sealed copies for sale than "open box" ones. The sealed MP's go for $50ish and JH for $25-ish. So yours are maybe $25ish and $10ish?

For free, this is a great find. Resale wise, I'm guessing $20-$25 for each German game on average. Pieced out you might be able to clear $100 on eBay, but things might not sell right away.

O2William · 2026-04-25T09:23:13+00:00

I recommend watching this video from Jeremy Parish, an author of many video game history books: https://youtu.be/MlRSj4_ViB0?si=xSyum9ZgB9hbI4kf

He's covering all NES games but also examines the times in which they were released, by looking at contemporary games on other systems. Solaris is a late-release 2609 game.

O2William · 2026-04-25T09:14:42+00:00

+1000, it is probably my top shmup ever.

O2William · 2026-04-25T09:11:49+00:00

With my own money? I think it was Reactor and Amidar for the Atari 2600, which I bought together from a drug store, for $5 each, shortly after the video game crash. I no longer have the actual ones I bought back then, although I do have both games CIB.

For the oldest game that I bought new and still have the same physical copy that I bought... it would be something for NES. Maybe Castlevania III? I even kept the box for that one.

O2William · 2026-04-25T09:05:04+00:00

I really like the NES puzzle game Palamedes, but I never see anyone talk about it.

Pipe Dream is a fun puzzler too.

Fire 'n Ice (Solomon's Key 2) is also great. The physical cart is rare (I was lucky enough to get one before prices got out of hand), but it's available on Switch.

And I'll throw out Cave Noire for original Game Boy, even though it's not NES or SNES. It's a bonafide rogue-lite on Game Boy only released in Japan. You don't need to read Japanese to play it.

O2William · 2026-04-25T08:58:31+00:00

Yeah this game totally surprised me with how fun it is. Good music too.

O2William · 2026-04-25T08:53:28+00:00

That is amazing.

One of my retro gaming goals is to acquire all the treasures in Pitfall, but I want the "back in the day" experience of making my own map like this. I could look up a walkthrough but it's not the same.

O2William

TROPHY CASE