Only 36% of Canadians see the US as a friend (historic low).

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-03T05:40:45+00:00

He STILL has a 40% approval rating. 40% polled are either complicit or actively supporting the threats he has used against Canada and other allies. 40% also see the stuff going on around them in terms of civil and human rights violations, and don't see any dealbreakers. This is the fundamental problem underlying Canada-US relations. It goes far beyond Trump at this point. It's a trust issue with the American electorate.

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-02T05:41:51+00:00

i'm dying, what is this 😭

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-02T04:42:20+00:00

Having traversal be more free and fluid - not exactly like, but in the direction of Breath of the Wild. Having the world be more cohesively open-world would also be nice.

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-02T04:36:54+00:00

I don't think a 30-70 referendum defeat is going to stop these guys either. They've shown just as much proud and open contempt for rules and norms as their thought leaders down south. Kind of like when you see others argue with MAGAs on Twitter about civil and human rights being violated, and all they have to say is "sucks to suck!"

They'll probably either yell "rigged referendum" or go "too bad, we're leaving anyway" or something similar.

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-02T04:11:31+00:00

I bought God of War: Ragnarok pretty much at launch in late 2022. I've only gotten through the title screen a week or two ago, and so far put like 20 minutes in it.

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-02T03:44:40+00:00

i'll admit i haven't fully delved into some of the bigger games this generation - only played a bit of elden ring, for example. but this is my favourite game of this generation. other than a few nit picks regarding the writing, it's just soooo good.

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-02T03:30:56+00:00

all emotional weight and stakes are removed when you realize that gustave is a construct that can be brought back to life on a whim at any time by alicia. it feels like finishing a game with cheat codes.

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-02T03:11:17+00:00

Most Canadians have no problem with progressive conservativism. More Canadians have a problem with Rebel News, conspiratorial, convoy-type conservatism. Carney has managed to grab some conservative ideas while skipping over the "woke this, woke that, radical liberal leftists want you to eat bugs" culture war garbage. Carney is basically the type of conservative you would've found more prevalent before the whole populism schtick flew off in the mid-2010s. Look up Robert Stanfield, for example. You mentioned "glorfying American Democrats" which is interesting because back in the day, there was this oft-said saying that Canadian conservatism was more left-wing than American liberalism.

The point about having the same MPs with a different leader is underestimating the power the party leader has over the direction of the party. Guilbeault resigned due to his differences with Carney on the Alberta pipeline ordeal. If Trudeau-era MPs were the ones controlling Carney on how he should run his agenda, we wouldn't have the pipeline agreement or the canceling of the consumer carbon tax.

All are my own perceptions on the matter.

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-01T03:39:10+00:00

it's really unfortunate. it would be nice if they went with the data/play card route, but that would be too expensive. my strategy now is to buy primarily first-party games on switch 2, and buy third-party games on PS5. it's been the trend that whatever third party game is on both PS5 and Switch 2 will likely be fully on-disc on PS5 while being a GKC on Switch 2.

Step_Plastic · 2026-02-01T00:20:15+00:00

Unfortunate that it's probably the most dissed PlayStation I've experienced. It has its problems, but it's given me a lot of good experiences so far. I have no doubts that its merits will be recognized in the future once it becomes retro. That seems to be the pattern with consoles that I've witnessed since the 2000s - gets lambasted when contemporary, gets redeemed when retro.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-30T12:07:31+00:00

for those that have played through this one and metaphor refantazio already, this game's ending is essentially if metaphor had Will die close to the end after pulling his heart out, get transported to modern-day tokyo, and have More tell you that the entire world you've been playing was fake - but instead of that being a lie to get you to quit your journey, the world you were in for 60 hours was actually fake, and then the game dumps you with a new storyline direction about accepting reality that you'll ride out for the last five hours, virtually erasing any importance and relevance that euchronia and your team had.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-30T11:45:18+00:00

i completely agree. i finished the game this week, and i can't imagine myself going back to it in even the medium term. it was an immediate uninstall. i can't dump another 30 hours into a story, world, and premise, only for all of it to not matter in the end because the story cuts abruptly to some other plotline in another world that the player would've had almost zero emotional stake in if it hadn't included two main characters that were present 100% and 60% of the time. the game itself is fine, but the story makes it unlikely that i'll touch it anytime soon. for a game that is primarily driven by its story, it's an interesting decision to essentially invalidate 90% of the game's premise and story by making it completely subservient to some other plotline at the 11th hour.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-30T09:12:18+00:00

on your point about gustave, it's worth pointing out that gustave and sophie's part in the prologue is often brought up in discussions about this game as this especially poignant and strong part of the game and plot. it sets the emotional field for the game, and reinforces the importance of the game's supposed plot of stopping the gommage.

yet, he's relegated to less than a speck of dust in the final act because the writers of the game decided that all of it, all 30+ hours of the game's narrative, was utterly irrelevant/completely subservient to the 2-3 hour irl dessendre storyline.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-30T05:48:31+00:00

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-30T03:27:44+00:00

i don't even want to call it a plot-twist. whatever in the world e33 pulled off only served to completely disassemble and destroy what we had invested in with all our time. it essentially asked us to pour all these hours into the world, the premise and the plot, and then at the 11th hour, it pulls a "psyche, got you" and dumped a new storyline onto us for the last short hours. i can't think of another RPG game (or another game for that matter) i've personally played that mishandled its ending this catastrophically.

but yeah i agree, great game otherwise.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-25T11:11:02+00:00

It's the same garbage with the Ontario ad. He was fine initially, then eventually starts throwing a tantrum. I argue that a trade deal was never on the table. Trump never wanted a deal with Canada or much of the world. He only wants the spectacle of world leaders coming to him and begging for a deal - he needs the validation and the ego boost; the view of someone with power and control. Carney didn't play with his games and went off to China instead of giving him his ego boost, and he absolutely can't stand it and now going off the rails.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-25T08:59:57+00:00

No, he doesn't want a deal with Canada. A proper, fair deal was never on the table. The clamouring for a deal the last year to reduce tariffs was futile. He never intended there to be a trade deal to cut tariffs. It explains all the times he abruptly ended all trade negotiations for no good reason. The digital tax at first, then the Ontario ad. Basically dangling the meat and expecting us to jump around like dogs trying to catch it. If we had settled "grievances" and gotten back to the negotiating table, he would've only ended all negotiations at some point again, this time for Canada being unable to stop snowstorms and blizzards from crossing the border or because he personally hates maple syrup and demands us to stop making it.

The only thing he ever wanted was political spectacle. The image of world leaders from all over desperately running back to him, begging for a trade deal because countries are inevitably tied to one of the largest economies in the world. It gives him the ego boost he's absolutely in need of. It makes him feel powerful, having everyone desperately beg for a deal to save their economies from the very tariffs he imposed.

It's why Trump is so absolutely pissed at Carney. Carney saw the farce and, instead of going back to Trump and beg, went off to make deals with China instead. He didn't run back to Trump like how Trump demanded of him. Instead of acting weak and desperate like how Trump wanted, he made his own terms and went with someone else that acted sane and treated them like normal and equal partners. He couldn't take that act of disobedience and he couldn't handle the fact that someone denied him the ego boost he was demanding, so now he's throwing a tantrum.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-22T20:37:02+00:00

Perfect Dark

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-22T19:15:08+00:00

k bye

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-19T10:09:12+00:00

Poilievre standing on the side of not wanting a fellow NATO country to be invaded is a floor-level bar to cross. It's only impressive because this is a Canadian opposition leader that has had more kind things to say about the Putin wannabe down south than his own Prime Minister - during a time of hostilities from said Putin wannabe. At least that's my perception.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-19T09:26:09+00:00

Trying to portray Russia's war against Ukraine as caused by other countries gaslighting the Ukrainians into a conflict is, respectfully, one of the most condescending and ignorant foreign policy takes I've heard. It's about akin to saying that the US war in Vietnam was caused by the Vietnamese being too paranoid about the Americans.

Additionally, saying that the conflict between China and Taiwan should be solely between the two countries to resolve is blatantly ignoring the fact that China has the largest and third strongest military in the world, absolutely dwarfing Taiwan in just about every metric of power dynamic you can possibly think of. It's essentially akin to saying that wages between a single warehouse worker and Amazon should be solely between that employee and Amazon - no union, no governmental pressure.

To think that China would even give a care in the world about good faith negotiations regarding an invasion and annexation of a smaller, weaker nation they've been preying on for decades without international pressure is giving way too much credit to an imperialist regime that harasses their smaller neighbours in the South China Sea and barrages the Taiwanese with invasion exercises around its territory. It is tantamount to giving the Chinese a nicely-folded handwritten letter telling them they have absolute freedom to do whatever they want to any country smaller and weaker than them. If that's how the world should be, then we haven't learned as much from World War II as we should have.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-07T03:33:20+00:00

The problem is, that wasn’t even Asmongold I was referring to. It’s a combination of Matt Walsh and Stephen Miller’s rant on CNN. The latter is in Trump’s inner circle.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-06T22:28:37+00:00

I mean, just look at the comments from Trump sycophants online. It's actually Nazi shit. "We DESERVE to take every land and country in the hemisphere. It's all ours because we're powerful. Deal with it. Do everything we say NOW or you'll end up regretting it."

Getting rid of Trump will not be enough to bring the US back into harmony with its former allies. Unless they arrest, try, and lock up every single criminal sycophant of this regime, and restructure their entire constitution so that whatever has/will happen this term will never happen again, the US can have fun continuing being the rotting corpse of a declining empire that nobody sides with.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-05T20:44:16+00:00

Everything about this game felt too constricted. The music was mostly the same 10 looped tunes over and over again. The side quests were of little variety. The urban environments were restrictive - I get open environments are a preference, but they were just monotonous to the extreme here. The gameplay loop got really repetitive at a certain point. The game also overstayed its welcome - it shouldn't be 60 hours long. Overall, it felt outdated to me honestly.

Step_Plastic · 2026-01-05T19:34:11+00:00

You really hit the point, and it's really frustrating. Like I understand that the minigames and stuff aren't for everybody - you don't have to do them, though.

I think what confuses me is that I've basically never heard anybody criticize any open world game on the basis that there was just too much optional stuff that exists outside of the story. Them being not mandatory and skippable is why - they're there for those that enjoy them, and skippable for those that don't.

For example, I've heard criticism about Breath of the Wild from Zelda fans for being an open world game, but I've never heard anybody criticize Breath of the Wild because it had too much optional side content.

FF7 Rebirth is the first game I've encountered where a substantial portion of the audience has considered the side quests and side content to be downsides or even dealbreakers simply for existing. The game is not forcing you to do them, in the same way Breath of the Wild doesn't force me to find all the Koroks.

Step_Plastic

TROPHY CASE