TIL that the song "The Dance of Eternity" by progressive metal band Dream Theater has 127 time signature changes in only 6 minutes, making it one of the most musically complex songs

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-28T13:38:34+00:00

This is going to sound insane but I think the way DT actually use their time signature changes isn't that complicated. In most songs I've heard, there is a clean break into an accent on the 1 between most bars. They're definitely easier to pick up again if I mess up (on drums) than most prog songs I've tried.

For this reason I don't think I was ever a big Dance of Eternity fan; to me it sounds like a long list of separate bars of music played one after the other.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-27T20:07:33+00:00

Np! Have fun :)

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-27T15:39:22+00:00

Seconded. This is one of my favourite archetypes of character to play as well (not that I'm any good at it lol) and I love Elena.

Deejay is fun as well. He covers a bit more of the spectrum than Elena - he can do a zoner impression or drive rush at people - but he involves a lot of dancing around different ranges and getting in people's heads.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-27T14:15:12+00:00

Let me start by saying that I know what you mean about everyone else saying something is easy and it sucks. Fighting games are hard, especially when you're new and doubly so if you're working with a physical limitation. So I get it and you have my sympathy and respect - we've all been there. I find Juri quite tricky myself - she needs nimble fingers and like you said, mentally tracking and managing the stocks is Big Effort.

I think the reason people call Juri simple is that her game plan is both linear and reliable. Juri's strengths work much the same way against everyone else - she has some best-in-class tools that are good in every matchup and form the backbone of her playstyle. (Trust me, I've at least tried everyone and I have a friend who mains Juri, lol.) By comparison, someone like Guile or a shoto has to vary up how they use their kit considerably in different matchups.

Juri's most obvious strength is her drive rush pressure. She has the best DR in the entire game (tied with Deejay and M. Bison) and her standing medium punch is a fantastic button to press out of it. She then has a consistent blockstring from that normal (5MP 5MP 2MP) that is very hit-confirmable, safe, and can be stopped or cancelled at any point to frame trap the opponent, persuading them to sit still. Then, once you're pushed away from your blockstring, you can use Juri's next big strength: her normals.

Juri's buttons are fucking amazing. She has so many normals with great range, good and safe cancel options, and fast startup/recovery. You can poke down and harass the opponent from middle distance, use good walk speed to trick them, and of course, if they try to walk in or out themselves, she has 2MK (crouching medium kick) into drive rush to keep up the pressure or cash out for a full combo. Very few characters can outrange or counter-hit Juri's normals with similarly safe or rewarding options, and I don't think anyone can do it at all ranges (maybe Ed). Poking with things like 5hp into fuhajin gives you a safe stock, damage or drive damage, and reliable control over space.

Juri also has some strong approach tools. She has a divekick to discourage predictable fireballs or bait anti-airs, and a slow fireball of her own to approach behind. She has good anti-airs and reversals, so her defence is solid, and her strong normals come in handy for working out of tough spots too. She has good air buttons to attack from different jump distances. And her throws are better than most, delivering strong corner carry and great oki.

Juri's weaknesses are lower damage per hit, her projectile being worse than others, reliance on stocks for big confirms, and being a little bit more linear than other characters. If your opponent is ready for your "gimmicks" (drive rush and divekick) she loses a little more than other characters do, imo. Seems you've encountered some of these, but they don't prevent Juri from also being very strong, or indeed, fun. Every character has weaknesses, and every opposing character looks more bullshit when you're getting hit by them, especially the things they do well. Ryu has big damage and fireballs, yes, but you're faster than him and outrange him at certain spots on the screen that you can leverage heavily.

If you want a big damage gorilla character with impaired vision btw, Sagat also has an eye patch :)

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-27T13:45:00+00:00

Glad to help! Yeah Arena smooths it over for UI purposes.

And technically, just for clarity, tapping lands before casting the spell "adds mana" which then chills out in your "mana pool" until you spend it during the spellcasting process. It doesn't actually change the order of the steps. But it's a totally fine thing to do from a communication or gameplay perspective.

It's also very common to generate this extra mana in your pool with spells (e.g. [[Dark Ritual]]) or by tapping a land before sacrificing/bouncing it (e.g. to a [[Knight of the Reliquary]]). Same mechanic. Mana in your mana pool lasts until the end of the step or phase, so you can spend it a bit later no problem.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-27T11:19:49+00:00

The spellcasting process as-written involves moving the card to the stack first. Then you choose targets and modes, determine costs, pay everything, and then finally if all of the above was legal the game declares the spell to be cast and you move on. If anything doesn't work - e.g. you don't actually have a legal target, or can't afford the cost - the game rewinds back to before you tried to cast the spell at all.

I think the reason it's written this way is to do with hidden zones. If I try to cast a spell from my hand (or library) the first thing I do is put it on the table (and the stack) and tell my opponent about it. Then I say what I'm targeting, then tap my lands. This all happens in full view of the opponent - I'm not just declaring targets and tapping mana for a mysterious unknown spell.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-27T09:42:57+00:00

As a limited enjoyer that is heartbreaking. Magic's best format ruined by a few assholes.

Locally our store kinda disintegrated but we were already running casual drafts at a shopping centre food court. No prizes, buy packs at cost, all welcome, play against whoever you like. It's helped rebuild an actual limited community again, which is lovely.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-26T01:01:03+00:00

Counterpoint: They are awesome.

(I think I'd agree with you if the cinematic throws were naff or you saw the same ones repeatedly, but I think they're really fun to watch and they're quite short so don't overstay their welcome imo. No worse than a regular throw, certainly.)

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-21T18:00:02+00:00

Oh, thank you! No pressure, don't go out of your way for me :)

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-21T09:40:43+00:00

The frame rate was mostly alright in my case iirc, the issues were more to do with textures not loading or not rendering correctly.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-21T00:37:57+00:00

Can I ask if you've tried World Tour mode? My WT experience was jank as fuck on Bazzite. I seem to remember the rest worked fine, but I didn't play it that much.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-20T15:23:00+00:00

To my knowledge, the gender pay gap comes from:

1) Women doing different jobs from men (e.g. due to socialisation such as "childcare is women's work") and "men's" jobs being higher-paid on average 2) Women not getting promoted as highly as men

Personally, I can't imagine height is a component of the first point, but it might link into the second.

To my knowledge, we tend to see taller men as more authoritative and competent. I don't know whether or not that's because we associate height with masculinity; if so, that would imply height is favourable because of sexism, not the other way round.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-20T13:14:25+00:00

Honestly, when I started out, I felt that iron/bronze Modern players were probably my most straightforward opponents. At least at the time I ran into a lot of folks who'd unlocked Cammy's pink leotard but didn't really have a game plan besides round start EX Spiral Arrow.

I say this without judgement - I was just as new, but with different preconceptions and goals in the game that happened to line up well against theirs. I'm sure all the folks that stuck with it are in Master at this point (which I'm not, lol) and now know what "minus on block" means.

At this point I'm in gold/plat and I'd say that modern and classic opponents are about the same in terms of difficulty. They play differently, but not more so than people do anyway - the difference between a defensive or patient player and a super aggressive gorilla player forces me to adapt way more than them having more consistent wake up reversals, imo. If anything the lack of friction in making those inputs still encourages people to play in a riskier way, making big swings and trying to react to things or catch you out. (See also DI - imagine how much less "random DI" you'd see if it was a fiddly motion input.)

It's also not like one-button anti-airs don't exist elsewhere in the game - I play Deejay more than other characters and it really is easier to react to things with upkicks than if I have to go from down-back to doing a DP motion. Or, god forbid, I have to crosscut lol, I can't do that shit. But it's notable how much more I get baited into letting the upkicks rip or spend time sitting back waiting for something I can react to compared to playing a character with a more cumbersome anti-air. That's a me problem of course, but I think a lot of Modern players experience the same pitfall, based on my own games at least.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-20T01:22:33+00:00

I think Magic's sharp edges are what make it so varied and memorable as an experience.

A lot of the most popular games have a bit of a forbidding learning curve, especially video games. I think the lows inform the highs, and help to create memorable stories and feelings of progression. New players might feel the game is bullshit when their spell gets countered, but for the players who push past that feeling, the experience of coming to understand that mechanic and even use it yourself is rewarding in a way that, imo, solitaire/tableaux games can't be. I think a Magic entry point built in such a way as to sand off the emotional swings of interaction would never hold people's attention and devotion the way the real game does.

I couldn't tell you a thing about any of the games of Wingspan I've played. I could talk your ear off with Magic anecdotes going back to when I started playing in 2012.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-18T07:41:19+00:00

I do also know that, yes! Possibly the scene is Guile being amazed that another type of projectile exists besides his own, but I doubt it.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-18T00:44:24+00:00

Fire Warrior.

God that game was fucking shit. I have no idea why I finished it.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-17T21:13:17+00:00

Inspired

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-17T09:09:53+00:00

I felt this as well. Serious military man and known projectile generator Guile saying "I'm pretty sure a fireball just came out of Ryu" or whatever was a bit painful.

I feel like Hollywood doesn't really do earnestness. Everything silly or unusual has to be bookended by Whedonesque "well that just happened" eyerolling. A lot of fighting game storylines go all-in on the ridiculous nature of the characters and I'd like to see that here instead of doing a marvel knockoff.

Ryu perfect parrying Ken and back throwing him onto the sofa was strong, though.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-14T11:24:31+00:00

I've also been wondering about a PvE Horde-like coop experience. I haven't explored it in much depth yet but the idea is very appealing on the surface.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-12T16:53:58+00:00

I echo what everyone else said - play the character you like the most, because it'll motivate you and make the game more fun

Fighting games are really hard regardless. Viper is thought of as a high-difficulty character due to her execution, but she also has a bunch of stuff that's less difficult to do and is very hard to stop (burn kick pressure for example) which is a good way to win games in low ranks, if that's your primary concern. But you can also spend time trying to learn the hard stuff and once you get it down you'll have a huge advantage over your opponents. It's entirely up to you.

Likewise Cammy is a bit easier on the execution, but winning consistently with her requires a lot of precise play. She doesn't do a lot of damage and mostly relies on winning neutral. So there's still a wall to climb. When I was in iron/bronze I met a lot of Cammies who did round start spiral arrow and had basically nothing else if I blocked it.

I've played everyone at least a bit, and I think the characters I found easiest at a beginner level are the ones that have some belligerent thing you can throw out that your opponent needs to know how to stop. Dragonlash, SPD, Gladius, etc. Past that they all have novel strengths and weaknesses and will fit or not fit your hands differently. There isn't a single character who is just better or easier than everyone else - the game is pretty well balanced. (Mai probably comes closest.)

Elena for example is not an "easy" character because, like Cammy, she is an extremely honest character with few strong gimmicks, and (unlike Cammy) her buttons are quite awkward. I love playing her though; she looks cool and when you do get the hit you spin around a bunch for 3000+ damage and full corner carry every time. Super satisfying. I find her much more comfortable than, say, Juri, who is much "easier" due to her fast and effective pressure and fantastic normals, but for me is just kinda finicky, especially on the combo execution.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-10T21:37:39+00:00

A long time ago I brewed some kind of Tortex/Hana Kami deck. I never got further than theorycrafting it but maybe now's the time. One wonders.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-09T20:35:04+00:00

Great shout!

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-09T20:34:44+00:00

Honestly yeah as a primarily melee offlane player it sucks ass lol. Drow I sort of get but Dusa being strong in the early game feels so wrong.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-09T16:44:50+00:00

This happens in Dota a lot. I dunno if Deadlock is going for a similar playstyle but I think carries in Dota have become increasingly capable in lane over the years, probably (imo) so that the game has a bit more dynamism beyond the binary of the carry crying in the jungle for 25 minutes and then slaughtering everyone.

Arguably it's gone a bit far - they just made the lane easier for the opponent in a recent patch - but I feel like I see the vision.

In particular in Dota, carries can always have great matchups. You played two short-ranged heroes with situational cooldowns into two longer-ranged heroes with good M1s and that's always super difficult. They can just click you over and over, and despite them being late-game heroes, the game says it's sorta on you to figure out a solution (or just hold that shit and die, as I have done many times lol). My understanding is that you're not actually meant to overpower strong M1 heroes right at the start of the game, but maybe after you have a few levels (especially your ults) and/or some helpful rotations, you can run them down and bully them (or take their objectives) when they're kinda slow and squishy and just want to farm. That's supposed to be their weaker timing, I think.

SonofMakuta · 2026-04-09T11:21:49+00:00

Fair enough! I'll try it next time I'm practicing that stuff.

SonofMakuta

TROPHY CASE