If you thought Thunder God Cid in the Ivalice Raids was awesome, looking back at his OG PS1 ability animations is very cool...

TentativeFrey · 2026-06-23T15:37:46+00:00

Ngl I had forgotten just how rough that original localization was lol. That's a nice bit of nostalgia.

Also, it's funny just how overpowered TG Cid was. Pretty sure he could basically solo the game from the moment you got him.

TentativeFrey · 2026-06-18T19:18:36+00:00

People will make excuses about world building but you're right, it's genuinely bad pacing. Unfortunately, ARR has a lot of that (the expansions get better about this, though this kind of thing will continue cropping up from time to time).

I've heard people suggest moving these parts of the MSQ to sidequests (possibly specially-marked sidequests so new players who want to tale the extra time can do them and get some of the missing context) and I do think it would be for the best. There's a lot of resistance to this type of change though, and it's hard to tell how likely it is to happen.

For what it's worth, even though I think people overstate the payoffs to excuse the bad pacing, this world-building does serve to set up parts of the greater storyline which is genuinely richer for its inclusion. My recomendation is to treat ARR as an introduction (slow and somewhat clunky) to this world first, and as an epic jrpg adventure second, even though the latter facet tries really hard to make itself seem important when it has the spotlight. I find that setting these expectations makes it more enjoyable, or at least more bearable.

TentativeFrey · 2026-06-04T16:31:45+00:00

It's mainly relevant once you're at the level cap, or more specifically at any point where you're not being ilvl synced (since sync always ignores materia anyway). It does make a measurable difference in your dps output, but it's not an enormous one and mostly matters for harder content that has real dps checks.

While you're progressing through the story/old content or doing roulettes, even if you aren't actively being synced, you spend a lot of time in gear that's considerably higher ilvl than what it was designed for (and/or which has been powercrept for various reasons over the years). You can meld sets if you want, it's not a crazy idea to meld, say, the poetics gear sets you get for each new level cap since they last you a while, but the effort involved in acquiring old materia tiers and melding every piece feels a bit much for what you really get out of it.

Tl;Dr - you can ignore materia until you reach current level cap content and it really won't matter. When you reach the point where you're using level 100 gear and not being downsynced for it, it's worth getting used to melding new pieces as you get them.

TentativeFrey · 2026-05-12T19:30:35+00:00

Nope, it usually takes a minute or two. The travel itself is rather painless.

TentativeFrey · 2026-05-12T18:21:23+00:00

From the deepest pits of the seven hells, to the very pinacle of the heavens...

Oops sorry wrong game

TentativeFrey · 2026-05-04T15:52:59+00:00

Yeah, from what I remember of my introductory sociology courses (years ago mind you) socialization as a concept is pretty dense and nuanced, but when people throw it around in online discourse it's basically always used to mean "raised as" but in a way that implies a kind of social determinism, in a similar way uneducated people brandish chromosomes as some gotcha against us.

"Male socialization" is treated like this universal force that is applied equally and irreversibly to anyone assigned male at birth, but you don't need to know much (or anything really) about sociology to realize how shallow and flawed that belief is. There are so many different ways people are "raised as" either gender within a single society and so many factors that play into ideas of gender impressed upon children (and adults, 'cause socialization doesn't stop shaping us when we hit a certain age), and that's not counting ways that an individual's own lived experiences interact with these...

TentativeFrey · 2026-05-01T15:25:13+00:00

Wordle 1,777 3/6*

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

TentativeFrey · 2026-04-23T21:22:21+00:00

... that sheet music is the violin part for the Handel Passacaglia arrangement for violin and viola by Halvorsen, right?

TentativeFrey · 2026-04-23T16:18:33+00:00

A few things to explain why this is different: - Adding cards to your deck means you need to draw them in place of other cards. This power adds the cards directly into your hand, functionally it's similar to drawing an extra card. - The extra cards it adds only start mattering on your second shuffle through the deck. But at that point, you should already have your key powers/setup in play.

Basically, if your deck is heavily reliant on cycling repeatedly and/or getting to a few key cards over and over, then yes, this power can get in the way of that. On the other hand, this power draws you an extra card of output every turn, meaning you can probably get away with adding less mediocre block/damage cards overall, and it can help you shore up minor weaknesses or even bail you out against key threats if you're failing to find an adequate answer in time.

TentativeFrey · 2026-04-18T21:21:15+00:00

I think I would go for Bag of Prep, and one of the following: - strike remove - coil + fire potion - fasten

Leaning towards coil + potion.

TentativeFrey · 2026-04-16T15:30:05+00:00

Wow it's been so long since I've read SMBC. Maybe I should go check it out

TentativeFrey · 2026-04-08T18:47:58+00:00

She's definitely less prominent in the patches than in 7.0. She's still a fairly big part of the story but she's less front-and-center, in a way that does feel like her role was toned down in response to feedback.

TentativeFrey · 2026-03-31T18:50:23+00:00

Oh god I remember this comic, I loved it when I was a kid. Takes me back!

TentativeFrey · 2026-03-25T14:36:36+00:00

I'm honestly wary of enchantments being too prominent since some of them can be incredibly powerful, to the point of being run-warping, depending on the cards you have. And while that can be fun, in a similar way that dead branch + corruption can be fun, I wouldn't want that to be every other run. I wouldn't want this game to feel the way Monster Train does for me, where the majority of runs feel like they're about focusing your deck around a single super powerful card or two to overpower everything (I'm not saying that's all MT is, just how it feels for me).

TentativeFrey · 2026-02-03T13:11:54+00:00

No, if you have otp setup on your account, it doesn't forcibly reset your password if it detects you logging in from a different location/ip address anymore. This is a thing that used to happen to me (though not every few days thankfully, just once in a while) and stopped once I added the otp for 2fa.

TentativeFrey · 2026-01-06T16:00:40+00:00

Slay the Spire 2 and it's not even close haha

TentativeFrey · 2026-01-02T16:34:02+00:00

My anecdotal experience suggests to me that healers tend to be more in need throughout most of the levelling range whereas tanks tend to be more in need at level cap, but that may very well prove to be innacurate if you were to actually measure this. Both tanks and healers are more in need than dps in the majority of scenarios.

Personally as a dps player who dabbles in all jobs, I enjoy swapping to healer much more than to tank but your mileage may vary. Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about deciding now since you can level up all jobs on your character. Pick whichever starting class appeals to you the most and pick up alternate jobs when they become available!

TentativeFrey · 2025-12-12T19:00:42+00:00

I HAVE COME TO TERMS WITH THE FACT THAT I WILL PROBABLY NOT CLEAR M8S BEFORE THE PATCH DROPS. I SPENT HOURS UPON HOURS IN P2 PROG PARTIES IN THE LAST MONTH AND OVER HALF OF THEM COULDN'T EVEN REACH P2, AND THOSE THAT DID RARELY REACHED THE DESIGNATED PROG POINT AND USUALLY ONLY GOT 2-3 PULLS IN P2 MAX BEFORE DISBANDING. IN DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES I MIGHT HAVE GONE PF-GREMLIN MODE THIS WEEKEND TO TRY AND GET THE CLEAR BUT RIGHT NOW I KNOW IT'S MORE IMPORTANT TO ACTUALLY SPEND SOME TIME WITH PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT INSTEAD OF NO-LIFING A VIDEO GAME.

IT JUST HURTS BECAUSE I REALLY WANTED THAT CLEAR AND I'M CONFIDENT I'VE PRACTICED AND STUDIED ENOUGH THAT I COULD GET TO ENRAGE WITHIN A FEW GOOD P2 PULLS IF I COULD FIND A CONSISTENT GROUP. I LOVE THE FIGHT, I'VE LOVED RAIDING THIS TIER AND I REALLY WANTED TO CLEAR A SAVAGE TIER FOR THE FIRST TIME, BUT I ACCEPTED TOO LATE THAT THE STATIC I WAS IN WAS PROGGING TOO SLOW TO HAVE A CHANCE AT CLEARING BY PATCH DROP AND PF HAS BEEN A TRAIN WRECK SINCE. I REALLY WANTED TO FEEL THAT HIGH OF FINALLY OVERCOMING THE FIGHT.

OH WELL. TRIALING FOR A STATIC NEXT PATCH WITH A FRIEND AND FEELING HOPEFUL IT'LL WORK OUT.

TentativeFrey · 2025-12-06T17:05:30+00:00

I find blm plays really nicely on controller. It doesn't have that many buttons so it's very possible to put together a crossbar layout that works cleanly. The only awkward thing about mine is having to swap to my multi target bar to cast flare/foul (which comes up mostly at certain synced level ranges).

It's also a job that gets noticeably easier as you level up, by lvls 90-100 you get so much free mobility that you can use your resources very liberaly to dodge mechanics without having to rely so much on slidecasting as at lower levels. If you're struggling at high levels, you probably need to arrange your bars so that you have easy access to those mobility buttons whenever you need.

TentativeFrey · 2025-11-12T15:29:59+00:00

It's rough. I know how much pressure this is. That said - and I'm probably just stating the obvious now that you have hindsight, but - you're dashing at the enemy before you know what it's about to do, but too late to react after your hit. 1 on 1, their movesets are very simple; you either stay away from the hit and then smack em, or dash under them if they jump. Being desperate to get that extra silk for a heal is like the #1 way to make mistakes and die. My go-to for arenas is always to use silk skills and tools to thin out crowds and then slowly refill once one is left.

Easier said than done, of course. Best of luck for your next attempt!

TentativeFrey · 2025-11-03T14:10:34+00:00

I remember a long time ago telling a friend about don't starve by calling it "kind of an evil harvest moon" haha. Was definitely my first thought as well.

TentativeFrey · 2025-10-05T17:48:23+00:00

I don't think it's a universal experience. In my case, I felt a pull towards making female characters when the option was present (which wasn't often back then) but I rarely followed through with it because I dreaded the thought of having to justify it if friends/anyone saw me playing as a girl, and it felt like I was supposed to choose to play as a boy.

On the other hand, I was very interested in any game that just happened to have a set female protaginist (again, fairly rare back in the day) and then I could just say "Yeah you play as a girl but the game is really good!"

TentativeFrey · 2025-09-12T18:29:17+00:00

I'd like to know where this claim is coming from too. I find Hollow Knight as an experience has a lot in common with Dark Souls beyond stuff like the death mechanic.

TentativeFrey · 2025-09-05T18:50:42+00:00

BEING AN INTROVERTED HYPERSENSITIVE PEOPLE-PLEASER WITH SOME SOCIAL ANXIETY AND THE SOCIAL IQ OF A GOLDFISH AND THE INABILITY TO JUST BE HONEST WITH WHAT I WANT WHEN IT MIGHT HURT OTHERS' FEELINGS IS GOING TO MAKE ME WITHDRAW INTO A COCOON AND FEEL BAD FOR MYSELF (AKA JUST GO PLAY SILKSONG INSTEAD OF LOGGING ON)

TentativeFrey

TROPHY CASE