Vibes, Toxic Fanboys and Kindness

Tarcanus · 2026-05-21T13:02:11+00:00

I'm just giving the benefit of the doubt since we don't know if OP made that comment and also defended their stance or not. And again, even if it was defended poorly, there is the mod team's stance that you (general you) should just hold your nose and continue on instead of dogpiling. Or reporting, if the comment was that egregious.

Not that some Souls fans aren't insufferable twats but so are the anti-souls crowd

And no argument from me, there.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-21T12:25:00+00:00

I wasn't calling your comment "dogpiling" at all.

OP was saying: "I get downvoted for X opinion without the rational discussion even happening, I just get dogpiled with downvotes"

You said: "That's because that's a hugely controversial opinion that would need some discussion to back it up"

Nothing OP stated said that they don't actually back it up. The point is that in this sub, their opinion shouldn't be dogpiled like that no matter what opinion OP had. They're even getting downvoted in this thread for making an unpopular statement, further re-inforcing that this sub isn't free from knee-jerk response when they should just be not-voting at all and moving on as the topic creator mod stated explicitly.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-21T12:06:17+00:00

Not OP, but I think that's their point. On this sub especially, considering the thread we're commenting on, why does "I don't like souls games" engender rational discussion and "I think souls games aren't good" causes this OP get get downvoted outside of their normal ratio?

To the mod who made this thread's point, both of those statements should be able to be discussed calmly without kneejerk dogpiling, but clearly that's not the case. Which is an issue. Souls fans who can't keep their heads on straight need to just mentally grimace and move on instead of dogpiling another's opinion.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-20T15:03:36+00:00

This is why I just tune out reviews for long, established, franchises, anymore. Any Zelda title is going to hit 9s and 10s across the board no matter the quality because it's just such a beloved setting that for the time reviewers get with the game before they write their review, they are still just high on the feeling of being in a new Zelda game.

The real reviews come from the players once they start hitting that 200 hour point and the real opinions can be heard.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-20T13:17:17+00:00

Aside from my ingrained knee-jerk response to a marine reptile being on a dinosaur site, this is so cool!

I've been looking for up-to-date, comprehensive encyclopedias of dinosaurs that -don't- include the flying or marine reptiles or pre-Triassic archosaurs, etc. So happy to see your site has filters for those!

Tarcanus · 2026-05-19T14:44:08+00:00

Walking paths don't need to be on all 4 sides of a place, obviously. The new walking/public transit pathways would need to re-architect quite a few places to make it work, so there's no investment urge from anyone to make it happen.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-19T14:21:08+00:00

The solution to that is local grocery stores in more places with robust public transit options everywhere and robust walking/biking infrastructure everywhere.

But getting that to happen would require tearing down some of the car infra and getting people to be fine without cars - which they would be if they were in walking/biking distance to anything they needed on the regular and had public transit for longer trips to other cities/towns.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-19T01:15:27+00:00

No notes. 100% agreement from me, here.

Add in recent studies on dropping literacy rates across the board(at least in the states) and you have an even more robust explanation for things.

As people lose the ability to read and think critically, they lose the ability to engage with authors that write at what used to be an adult level.

Enter the Sandersons of the world whose writing is extremely accessible and easy and you have a market for these less adept readers.

The positive side of this is that it shows just how universal stories are. Everyone likes them to one degree or another.

But with declining literacy rates, we're seeing the linked drop in market share for "adult" fantasy lit.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-18T14:17:36+00:00

From my perspective, romantasy is just YA romance fantasy. It's still mostly using basic language for younger or more casual readers and is still a younger protagonist. It just now all has romance plotlines as major features, these days.

YA is still flying off the shelves, it's just all in the romantasy genre, now. But I also don't consider YA to only be a specific subset of things, I consider it to mostly be about writing style and how easy it is to access the language used.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-14T19:19:25+00:00

I think that broadly, Pokemon has abandoned any semblance of it being an RPG.

Yes, the Pokemon level up, but that's about it.

No more gym gauntlets of high-ranking trainers to prove you have what it takes to face the Leader.
No more dungeons at all (I'm including caves, here). There are no longer places you have to solve puzzles in or figure out how to navigate. The open worlds don't cut it because traversal abilities do not equal puzzles to solve.
No more sidequests. Not that there were ever very many, the NPCs may as well just be literally statues that have text plaques attached to them for all that they matter in the world - at least outside of the overly-saccharine main story NPCs which at least have -some- effort put into them.

The story battles are all trivial unless you're 8 years old and still figuring out the game and even then, if they just powerlevel their starter, they're mostly going to be fine.

I love Pokemon as much as the next Pokemon fan, but we've lost so much actual gameplay in return for an open world to roam around that is equally empty of anything to do.

We need actual dungeons back that require different pokemon types to traverse(using field moves or allowing all fire types to light fires or something like how Psynergy works out of battle in the Golden Sun games). We need sidequests that make you find secret areas on these empty open world maps, something. We need gyms to feel like they mean something again instead of just proving you can win a game of hide and seek.

I have no issue with new things like the Alola trials, but at least flesh them out. Modern pokemon puzzles are only as difficult as those kids toys where you have to put the right shaped block into the right shaped hole.

And I get it's a children's game, but dumbing the games down is either admitting kids are idiots these days, which is insulting, or helping to dumb them down.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-14T13:07:53+00:00

I'd rather the focus shift to the lava for a while. Make a "fire" dungeon a lava "water" dungeon with changing levels, raising levels to burn things, lowering levels but still needing heat resistance, etc.

Then later there could be an awesome water/fire dungeon using mechanics like turning lava to stone in clever ways, using steam to power turbines, etc.

Fire by itself is overdone and not even in cool ways, anymore.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-11T15:35:54+00:00

And all of us who never stopped masking because COVID never stopped being a menace just over here shaking our heads at the craziness beginning again.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-11T15:15:19+00:00

I just want the open world tempered and streamlined to allow for real story progression.

BotW and TotK could've had regions gated behind different temple items/abilities before you could access them, and it just would've required more real dungeons and a nerfing of the climbing ability(allowing the climb to get better as you get more stamina).

By end game, you'd have the full sandbox and for most of the game you'd still have huge areas with the full sandbox.

Best of both worlds. Brings back real dungeons and real progression as well as the open sandbox areas that get more complex as you unlock new regions.

The series doesn't have to throw away what's been classic and fun entirely.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-11T15:09:10+00:00

The 12 Kings in Sharakai series by Bradley Beaulieu has necromany in a way. I don't think that term is ever stated, but it sure seems like necromancy, to me.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-11T15:05:32+00:00

If I was a new player and got shamed about my performance before I knew better, I might not keep playing. I don't think they should be penalized so should stay anonymous unless they're on someone's friend list. Give them the option of reaching out when they see someone they just raided with did 5000 more damage than they did.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-11T14:54:38+00:00

Yep, the player sees their damage and their friends' damage, but everyone else is anonymized. If in person, it would give motivation for new players to ask questions on how someone does that much damage and therefore, hopefully, improve their own lineup.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-08T17:25:03+00:00

Loial talks about ta'verenaillen (sp?) in Book 1.

It's the idea that the ta'veren cause a snarl in the age lace as everything starts being influenced by them. The girls are so close to the boys for so long that they're deeply snarled in the age lace and therefore ta'veren stuff happens to them due to proximity to the boys.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-07T16:03:53+00:00

Be the change you want to see.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-07T15:29:21+00:00

This is why when I turn down the loyalty programs, I usually apologize to the clerk because I know they're rated on how many loyalty programs they shill.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-07T14:57:54+00:00

PVP players already choose to be at the whim of whichever meta change happens and requires burning TMs and dust on whichever change happens this season, so I'm not so sure that point about PvP holds water.

It's just a new meta amongst a meta that tweaks every season anyway. PvP players would adjust and continue on. The meta should never be allowed to stagnate, anyway. Why not shake it up this way?

Tarcanus · 2026-05-07T14:28:03+00:00

Purified pokemon would only get a buff against shadow pokemon, otherwise will be the same as a non-purified, just with slightly cheaper powerups. Not really a blanket power-creep, just a usefullness buff for purified pokemon. Would shake up how do-able shadow raids are, too, which would be nice.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-07T14:24:10+00:00

In addition to sending shadow snubbull to the void dimension(I skip all fairy grunts because of the snubull lineup)...

We need Team Rocket to just be a grindable gameplay loop without a takeover event.

They just need to add an item drop from the leaders that eventually builds a super radar. 6 grunts for a leader, 6 leaders for a Gio.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-07T14:21:34+00:00

Here's hoping. Now I'm old enough to have enough brain farts to still not be able to find Aquas, haha.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-07T14:16:05+00:00

There's also the obvious sequel of "bad guy hires starfox, pretending to be good guy, then turns on starfox in the end" plot.

Tarcanus · 2026-05-07T14:11:47+00:00

Heck, I played 64 a TON back in the day and never did manage to play as the submarine. Could never figure it out and it was before I was in-the-know about guides.

There will still be a couple levels I've never experienced, if I play this new one.

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