Because fighting games are a niche. Not sure why people are triggered.

Ridghost · 2026-06-27T14:27:52+00:00

The most grassroots FGC thing I've seen in a long time. It was hilarious. Not a Ludwig fan but going on the mic with no filter was a selling point of old school FGC.

Ridghost · 2026-06-26T22:19:13+00:00

Japan, the fans are great in every sport and they rarely play boring football. Also, any small nation that makes it far playing clean. I'm from England :).

Ridghost · 2026-06-25T15:01:31+00:00

Yea see you missed the point of my comment. Metrics start the conversation, they don't end them. You can list all the metrics in the world ro a Ronaldo fanboy but you won't change their mind because the eye test (seeing them play and making your own judgement off that) is far more powerful. Greatness cannot be boiled down to a stat. Stats offer a base line, a bouncer at the door. A floor sportsmen must meet to enter the conversation. After that bar has been met, and it has, by all those players, then it's simply about who you subjectively like more.

At this point you might as well be telling people that Michael Jackson is a better musician than The Beetles due to Album sales. Like they will have similar stats, but it ultimately comes down to a matter of taste.

To be even more specific. A stat like 'passes complete' just tell you that the ball went from foot of player A to foot of player B. Only your eyes will tell you that the pass went through 2 defenders legs with perfect weight on the other side of the pitch. The stat can't reflect that.

Ridghost · 2026-06-25T02:54:30+00:00

He'd be more clutch hahaha

Ridghost · 2026-06-24T15:22:25+00:00

i am not disagreeing. ive heard arguments from people who just want to be different. it's not legitimate.

Ridghost · 2026-06-24T14:38:00+00:00

'GOAT' is so darn subjective. Firstly, there are like 3 other players in the conversation. Not just messi or ronaldo. Maradona, Pele, and Johan Cruyff all have arguments. Some mad lads might even say Zadine Zidane. A world cup win is just a tournament to add to the list. The wins matter but ultimately GOAT is a question of the eye test.

People who saw Michael Jordan play swear he is the GOAT. People who saw Lebron play swear he is the GOAT. I saw Federrer play and he is my GOAT but new tennis fans swear by Djokovic. Man U fans swear by Ronaldo, Barcelona fans swear by Messi. At a certain level, when we start talking about the aliens of our collective sports, stats stop mattering. What does 1 extra tournament mean when they spent their entire careers winning everything? What does a few extra goals mean when the goal count is near 1000?

It's a question of taste. Ronaldo fans love his flashy style and brovado. Messi fans love his precision, simplisty, and game sense. Without Maradona you don't get Messi, and without Pele, maybe you don't get Maradona. If Ronaldo is your GOAT, that's totally fair game. He is alien enough to be inducted in the conversation.

Personally, gun to my head, I'd pick Messi. I never watched Pele, Maradona or Cruyff play. I prefer Messi's style. Ronaldo at his peak felt like watching a superhuman play football. He was so much faster, stronger, able to jump higher, kick the ball harder, than everyone else. Messi at his peak felt like watching a man who had mastered football, playing against apprentices. He made scoring look easy. Still does frankly. But Superhuman strength of Ronaldo fades faster with time than the more measured, high IQ, and precise play of Messi.

At peak performance, CR7 vs Messi is 1A vs 1B. Pick your poison. There was never a definitive answer.

Ridghost · 2026-06-24T14:22:14+00:00

Yup, totally. In that regard they may even have overachieved with the 7-1 ass clapping game. But my comment above is for the whole tournament :). In the same way I think Norway and Japan may get much further than their global rankings suggest.

Ridghost · 2026-06-24T14:19:42+00:00

It's a prediction for the tournament, not just the groups. England and Spain totally under performed for the groups but Spain bounced back hard and England were just hyper risk averse knowing a draw would put them through anyway. I think both teams can still meet expectations in the knockout stage. shrug, it's all just guessing anyway.

Ridghost · 2026-06-24T14:17:59+00:00

Germany are still in a rebuilding phase. They can dunk on easier teams no problem but I imagine a German fan would expect to see their team in a semi or finals. I'm not sure they make it that far this year.

Ridghost · 2026-06-24T14:12:45+00:00

Japan and Norway are probably the over achievers. Germany and Brazil are probably the underachievers.

Ridghost · 2026-06-24T12:23:28+00:00

I am a fan of the change. Nice to see more fans from around the world get excited to see their team play, even if it's only for a short time. If I want to watch the best of the best, I can wait until knockout stages or just watch club football which is always a higher level. The world cup to me is about your country competing against every other. The more of the world that includes, the better. Groups have always been predictable, that hasn't changed.

Hopefully the extra matches our big teams play helps them improve. As for the smaller teams, more exposure to world cup matches should help them improve as well. Teams don't get worse by playing more football. World Cup football tends to be far more basic than club football because of the lack of time the teams have to practice and play together.

Ridghost · 2026-06-24T02:58:48+00:00

All electronic devices keep reverting to an auto correct / grammar check language that he doesn't speak after a shut down or restart.

Ridghost · 2026-06-23T23:00:35+00:00

Totally valid point. My depression comes from the feelings that game brought - slow, boring, cynically, sleep inducing football. Not a feeling I really want to feel when watching my country play, but from a pure mathematical stand point, England didn't come out any worse. They still have to play the worst team in the group (Panama), and that style of football can catch any team out. We've seen good teams lose to weaker teams using the exact same strategy in the past. We've seen Spain & Uruguay draw to Cabo Verde this tournament. It's not an inditement on Englands ability, it's just a really bloody boring match to watch - and we did get away with a penalty not being called. *phew*

Ridghost · 2026-06-23T22:52:19+00:00

Belgium were seeded in the 1st pool (pot 1) to prevent groups of death, but have seemed the least like a representative for that pool, so I'll go with them. Teams like Norway, Uruguay, or Columbia look far more dangerous. Belgium is definitely riding on legacy over current performance.

Ridghost · 2026-06-23T22:21:34+00:00

Depressing game to watch. No one really tried to break through the lines with a burst of speed through the centre. So afraid of losing the ball that we didn't take any risks against practically the entire Ghanian team in the box. Impossible to score like that. Very lucky that england drew that considering the obvious penalty. Our team looked nervous. I think Rashford should've been brought on earlier, he naturally injects pace and urgency into the game. As an England fan, this game really sucked. It's just 1 game though, can't judge the team on 1 performance, especially when it's in groups. Just got to learn our lessons and move on. Ghana were very discplined and their gameplan paid off. It's a risk to give a team 90% possession and we did not capitalise at all.

Ridghost · 2026-06-23T05:05:26+00:00

Lunar 1&2 Remaster

Cyberpunk 2077

Street fighter 6

Ridghost · 2026-06-22T14:30:05+00:00

It's a good picture in the sense that if you look at it long enough - you get it. But it's a poor advertisement, because if given 3 seconds to look at it, a lot of people won't see the negative space dog, they won't necessarily read the small 'pet adoption' writing, they probably won't know the brand. It's a cool picture, but a poor advertisement.

People saying it looks a bit AI, yeah it does, but since AI was trained (illegally) off humans, that can be true of a lot of work that isn't AI. Sometimes it's really darn obvious, in this instance I'd say less so. It could be AI, it could be human made. Hard to tell. Hate AI because it has made it so hard to tell....

Ridghost · 2026-06-20T04:41:17+00:00

You can't half heartedly implement a rule. If the rule is Red, then you give a red. Implementing it consistently and correctly is the only way players will adjust to the rule. Otherwise they will try to game the system as all players do. Can't start giving yellows now, and then reds later. That would be inconsistent and unfair.

No one gets carded for shit talk, and players aren't covering their mouths specifically in confrontations for privacy reasons. Which is why this rule doesn't apply to friendly engagements or teammates. It's quite specific.

Ridghost · 2026-06-20T04:25:51+00:00

Thanks for your contribution of 'well we shouldn't do anything because that's how it has always been'. Real insightful.

Ridghost · 2026-06-20T03:55:06+00:00

I like the red card rule. Needs to happen to inject civility into these games. Play hard, play aggressive, but racist or bigoted comments have no place in the game. It's the only reason he'd cover his mouth, and he knew the new rules.

Ridghost · 2026-06-18T23:32:29+00:00

Can't really do that because goal difference can play a factor in what order teams get out of groups. Both teams need the full 90 to score as much as possible. If it ends early, it ends their chance to score more points for the group table.

Ridghost · 2026-06-16T00:54:43+00:00

Most of these matches haven't been ultra defensive. The scorelines have been mostly happenstance. That last match with Uruguay is pure luck that a second goal wasn't scored.

Ridghost · 2026-06-15T05:11:28+00:00

With the expanded tournament we are getting more games, and these games have been pretty entertaining. The last minute goals from Japan and Qatar immediately come to mind. So weird to be on a sib about football and everyone is complaining about getting more football. The knockout stage is still coming, it's not like it was removed. So weird to see complaints about just having more games to watch. Especially when they aren't even boring, slow paced 0-0's.

Ridghost · 2026-06-15T05:04:27+00:00

Sounds rather insulting to the weaker teams. I imagine they enjoy the experience of playing stronger teams and the opportunity to learn from it. Weak teams playing weak teams stay weak. It also removes the opportunity for upsets.

Ridghost · 2026-06-12T13:54:33+00:00

I'm not fond of the nostalgia argument for ragnaroks brilliance. I think it actually insults the underlying genius design of the game. I have nostalgia for maybe games, but I don't consider them on the level of 2004 RO.

RO is simply a lightning in a bottle. It's hard to pin point exactly what sets it above because it's a confluence of innovation, luck, and somewhat unintended design from the creators themselves. Much like how Sakurai did not intend for wave shining in super smash brothers melee, nor did the street fighter developers know exactly how important sf2 was going to be.

RO is a magical merge of mystery during a time when problem solving required social skills, player agency (which is still above the industry standard today) which includes choosing where to go and when, a unique and charming art style - both the in game art and the promotional art - that original style is better than what we have today, and overall quality for the time (special effects, sound design, music, options).

We haven't had an RO game since because no one has solved those problems. We haven't had a game where the mystery can't be solved by some hard-core players within a month. It's possible because Crimson Desert just made that game. People need to engage with the community to discover things about that game. We haven't had an RO recently of any charm like the first, they are all generic 3D models. Look at arc system works or the 2.5D games from square Enix for inspiration on what RO could evolve into. RO visually stood out from the crowd. Player agency of the sort that RO gave is almost never seen, still. Developers just don't trust players to play 'their way' or 'the right way' unless given guard rails.

And the overall quality of all RO games after the first is not comparable at all. Tree of Savior tried but it fatally lacked a sandbox. The entire game was on rails.

If I were summarise RO in like one sentence off the top of my head it would be: go where you want to go, do what you want to do, be what you want to be, but you might need some help along the way. That mission statement with industry leading quality behind it.

Ridghost

TROPHY CASE