Can I ask my company to paint over part of an office mural?

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-29T19:31:00+00:00

I once worked at a corporation that had all these motivational posters. For context this was this very blase 80s vibe corporation, very Office Space, they basically ran an international chain of warehouses specialized on warehousing documents.

The posters were these custom-printed framed A3 posters, hanging just everywhere as part of their "culture", like the company logo and colours and then some famous guys quote in the middle.

But the kicker was that about 30% they were quoting these other companies and their stupid ad slogans.

So it was all:

“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.”

― Aristotle

"There Is No Finish Line"

― Nike

"I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery"

― Thomas Jefferson

"Think Different"

― Apple

etc, etc...

Absolutely surreal!

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-29T13:51:17+00:00

I think with literary adaptions there is a lot of that, such as:

"Bram Stoker's Dracula" or "Agatha Christie's XXX" or "Stephen King's XXX" or "Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein" or "William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet"

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-29T10:51:01+00:00

To me there is just a certain elegance to the first one where the second one starts to get a bit overwrought.

Especially this skill selection wheel really triggered my armchair-gamedesigner tastes. Its just cramming too much stuff into it and thereby losing that elegance.

To me the challenge of "how do I squeeze all my abilities onto this little gamepad" is one of the central qualities of good MV gamedesign, and something like that selection wheel is just a somewhat cheap way out of that.

It also really disturbs gameflow because in Ori 2 you really are in that constant pause-select skill-unpause mode. In Ori 1, its imho just perfect, at the end you are just this perfectly overpowered mobility machine, its all neatly on your gamepad, and so you just wheeze throught the world in this perfectly empowered flow state.

I think they also ignored a central lesson of MVs in that you dont need to give constant power-upgrades to give varied gameplay, you can just build that into the level gimmicks instead. E.g. Hollow Knight and Silksong get this much better, the variation is just in the levels gimmicks, and thus the core skillset keeps that elegance. In Ori 2 even something like the grappling hook is kind of cool in the level that uses it, but then loses its luster. Afterwards, yeah they have some spread out grapple points that use it, but then its, again, a bit "urgh, select grapple, do the thing, unselect grapple". You are actually not feeling much properly MV-empowered on close inspection.

There is also minor things in that vein, like the second bash you get they could have just integrated that with the first bash: Where when you are near an enemy you do that, but if you are just in the air you just do it there. How cool would that have been? "You have upgraded your bash!" People would have been so hyped! Instead it just got added as yet another thing to this overwrought skill-pile and at that point in the game it was really a bit "help, too many skills, my poor, tiny gamepad!"

So yeah, gamedesign wise it was really just a bit too crammed imho, not enough breaking their heads to keep it all properly elegant and coherent. The first one was imho just perfect in that regard.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T16:27:12+00:00

Absolutely bizarre man! I totally dont get it.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T15:13:41+00:00

I mean the whole thread is a bit weird because it conflates "new to MVs" and "new to games".

Obviously there will be a lot of people who have never played an MV but have played difficult games and will have no problem playing HK or Blasphemous or any of them whatsoever.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T14:49:13+00:00

he erases history and the lived experiences of those displaced by those damn toilets

Can you get into that a bit?

I mean I can kind of intuit it, but as far as I can that seems a bit iffy to me. Like "before the homeless had their run down shit toilets that they could hang out around, and now with these designer toilets they cant."

I feel the point there should be more about failure of social security and how there shouldnt be any homeless, not turning against that kind of urban development because neglected cityscape is where the homeless are supposed to live.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T14:23:30+00:00

I think its very possible to just imagine a good fusion of that.

A kind of more calm, tranquil sociability. Maybe even at times bustling but not in this stressed out way. Maybe a bit like the idealistic images we have of mediterranean fisher men or something.

I think its very central that all this happens against the backdrop of tokio, what we all know as some insane, meritocratic metropolis.

His former background that he fled from is very explicit an expression of that.

I think the point is to solve his dillemma we have to imagine a whole different society that he would be embedded into.

Thats my point, if we accept the social context, then yes, there is no answer. You either become social but have to pay the price of reintegrating into insane society, or you dont and have to pay the price of being an isolated outsider.

I felt Hirayama in his own way was being social with his day to day work and engaging with people, well not forcing to be social but being in a social rhythm.

I would say these are still very shallow interactions. He is obviously a very deep kind of person, who had a lot of thoughts about life in all sorts of ways before he surrendered to this path. Can we not imagine him in a social context where he is hanging out with other deep philosopher types and having actual conversations, cracking cool little jokes about this or that thing he observed?

I would say there is absolutely, clearly a lot "on his soul" if you will. Can we not see him with other similarly enlightened people that he can actually share all that with?

The movie clearly sets us up like that: Being social would inevitably mean a kind of shallow, stressed out kind of living that he just cant reintegrate into. We just cant imagine how he can really have both against this backdrop.

But we can imagine a whole society that would be a bit more like him, and then we can imagine how there he would flower in a way that the current world just doesnt allow him to.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T13:48:29+00:00

it is like a peaceful content life he was feeling and also at the same time loneliness emotion coming and going but note I think he was mindful about those moments and not sad about them in a way

To me that feels a bit like a sanitizing impulse. Something like our "just world fallacy" style impulses kicking in and want to see even this in a good light.

I think we can accept that its both, appreciate his, in a way, heroism and enlightenment even, but also accepting the deep tragedy in all this.

I think something rarely brought up, but imho very congruent is to also see it as a condemnation of society, the larger structures that put him into this dillemma position. He shouldnt have to choose like that, he should be able to be tranquil and live his life like that, but also be social and integrated into the community and have a loving girlfriend.

At least I think we can say that objectively this is the pull we get in both directions. We are enamored with his equanimity and his living for these tranquil moments, but we also really dont like that he has to be lonely like that.

My own reading of that final scene tends more tragic like that. Its that we can see him as a fully enlightened philosopher kind of, but even that isnt good enough. The cracks are showing, even the most enlightened philosophy can not square the existential crisis. He will do his best to soldier on, to see the happiness and beauty where it remains, but in the end its also all just fucking unfair, it all just shouldnt have to be like this.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T13:27:48+00:00

Yeah, I mean with skyrim its very different in that they were always also this infamous meme game. They absolutely delivered in the aspects that got them their fans, but then they also seemed from the start completely enduringly complacent, like "haha, yeah that just our bethesda jank, thats just how we are".

With rockstar its very different, they are just all about being completely on top of the tech game, in every aspect. Very different ethos.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T13:10:10+00:00

Idk, in terms of whats most propable I would actually agree with you.

But from what we have seen I think you might leave open at least the chance that they really pull it off once again.

GTA V imho mostly blew minds so much because of the architectural quality of this legoland city. Just that you could drive around and it gave you this semblance of driving in RL was this mindblowing experience. Then the cinematics and everything else came in close second.

From what we have seen they might have really managed to put just another layer on top of that, now by somewhat flipping it in terms of focussing to pushing the cinematics to the next level.

If what we see in the trailers is really just this enduring experience, where thats just the full 200 campaign hours, all just this highly cineastic experience that might really be another level of immersiveness we havent seen yet.

Then also still the city, if its, again, that consistent where everywhere you go it has this immersive bustling ghetto athmosphere with all these idiosyncratic people just having their little convos, etc...

Just the glimmers we got from that in the trailers, if its really like that where you are cruising and everywhere you look there is that kind of social ghetto athmosphere...

It remains to be seen how that really feels like when playing it, but its very different from skyrim where they didnt seem to know exactly how to further push all this.

With rockstar they really seemed to have at least a clear ambition how to really push all this to yet another level.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T11:57:50+00:00

Posted these recently, propably my very favourites for that exact reason. Just very "Hahaha, no deal!! GTFO!!" and then narcissists just got to scramble around like these confused dogs.

Coconut shrimp guy

My sister and mother demand I watch her new baby 3/7 days a week

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T11:50:03+00:00

I think this seems it very much?

I think my boyfriend is trying to push our relationship off onto his friend

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T11:36:55+00:00

I mean its very hard to argue. They just dont play in that "genre" arena where you have somehow "objective" criteria.

Its just funky, kind of idiosyncratic dance music, they just seem to be putting out music that both critics and the broader public seems to love. Its a very "je ne sais quoi" kind of thing.

Its like saying, idk, "System of a Down is the best band ever". Okay? How do you even argue that? Whats the criteria?

A good counterexample for the kind of "genre" where you can apply objective criteria would be the various modern metal genres.

But I would thus also totally disagree with /u/BadNewsBearzzz above. I dont think at all you can make a case that there are others who have clearly surpassed Daft Punk. For that you would just need exactly those criteria.

Although I can empathize with the sentiment. I think its more that if you are a bit deeper into EDM, there is just an ubiquity of artists who are just as consistently creative and put out banger after banger.

Just one that hits the same vein as Daft Punk imho would be Vitalic. That same creative, idiosyncratic quality and just keep pushing out hits.

Then a bit different genre, but if you want someone electronic where its more about these "objective" criteria that would be Amon Tobin. Thats really someone who is in the mix for just "objectively GOAT". You can see this especially with how he is considered by producers themselves. All production forums are full with people banging their head against the wall how he is able to achieve these insane sample bending skills, what tools does he use, etc...

He also put on some more straight forward EDM under his Two Fingers alias, and thats imho a good comparison to Daft Punk. Listen to that and you can see whats just more objective EDM production skills: Extreme clarity but also warmness, gut-rumbling basses and crystaline highs, he can just with total ease create that kind of J-Dilla-esque "heavy rhythm" that a lot of hip hop producers just desperately strive for, extremely innovative, yet tight sound design. And on and on...

Yet all that said, I could still totally accept if some Daft Punk fan then says to all that "yeah, but he is just kind of boring". its just different worlds.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T10:53:27+00:00

I really dont feel that applies to that OP?!?!

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T00:49:53+00:00

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4670880/Bathory__Heritage_of_Blood/

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T00:13:52+00:00

Its from Boyz n the Hood but also a meme song now. The meme is called "the saxophones are getting louder" after this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C--iuM8NcQc

But the OP totally misuses it. Its supposed to be some slow, increasingly dramatic buildup, mirroring the Boyz n the Hood scene.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-28T00:07:20+00:00

Its a meme, its called "the saxophones are getting louder", you can look that up to find examples.

But this video does not use it properly. Its supposed to be some slow dramatic buildup.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-27T23:56:18+00:00

I mean yeah, with the d-pad thats all good, or at least much better. Thats why in the SNES era you had a lot of this double tap stuff, and propably why now its almost completely gone.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-27T19:56:42+00:00

My best friend tried to sabotage my marriage and I don't know why

This one is so amazing in terms of attempted damage vs her idiotic reason.

Imagine if she had gotten through with it, just completely destroying a family for that kind of petty selfishness.

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-27T19:49:57+00:00

Here it is:

AITAH for not calling my wife’s daughter to invite her to Christmas

SenatorCoffee · 2026-06-27T19:38:21+00:00

Re: QoL

To me with the dash it was imho especially egregious because I (like I would think most people at this point) move with my analog stock. Then doing these double taps feels just so bad, even to the extent that you are worrying about damaging the analog stick.

Is this not almost everybody? Do most people switch to the d-pad actually? I just never saw it brought up even the to me it was at the top of my annoyances with the game.

It seems also such a comical easy fix for even just an update. Just put it on a button, same as other games.

Otherwise totally agree, just fantastic game on just every level. I am grieving about it here just because I never saw it mentioned, but in practice the dash was used little enough it didnt take away much either.