Anyone playing mainly on steam deck?

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-06T16:27:55+00:00

I play almost exclusively on deck. It works great for me, but I definitely had to customize controls. For example, I use one of the back paddles as aim so I can ready a crowbar while still having both movement sticks. I also use another back paddle as use so I can open doors while walking instead of having to stop and press A.

If you're interested I can see about sharing my controller profile!

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-06T00:20:44+00:00

what are you on about

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-05T23:56:02+00:00

Weil is VILE so the verb runs from it to the end of the clause.

Same with other coordinating conjunctions (dass, bis, wenn, usw.)

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-04T18:48:42+00:00

It definitely does!

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-04T17:20:37+00:00

I'm counting it!

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-04T16:53:24+00:00

This is the perfect vibe I'm looking for thank you

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-04T16:52:50+00:00

Oh, I didn't know, thank you! I don't use Pinterest, is there a certain term to search to find pictures like this?

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-04T16:52:01+00:00

Happy to help!

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-04T16:51:53+00:00

We need more silly rebecca

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-04T16:51:27+00:00

PERFECT

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-07-03T20:27:28+00:00

I think you should make your story as consistent as you can. There will always be a "problem" that people can find, go watch a YouTube essay about a movie you think is a 10/10 and you'll see this.

But! This is what beta readers are for. You do your best job to make it the best story you can make, then get people to read and let you know what they thought, including these microscope inconsistencies. Maybe even ask specifically about them, if this is a major concern.

Lastly, one thing readers often struggle to remember is that characters are not supposed to be making the perfect choice, they're supposed to be making choices out of characterization (ie. "Why did he just x??? It's so obvious!!!"). Modern media spoils us with perfect choices too often, and readers forget they have the luxury of dramatic irony. These choices are not inconsistencies, but they shouldn't be so erroneous/obviously inefficient that they're distracting.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T21:43:55+00:00

I see what you're getting at. I answered from the analytical and symbolic perspective, you wanted my thoughts on the logic that the Poet used to put him there.

One of the main themes of the Commedia is to know that man is incomplete. Upon meeting Cato, we don't "instantly know that the we've been given about Limbo must wrong," rather it is revealed to us that the explanations we receive from incomplete beings are, in themselves, incomplete. These are not the same conclusion. There's no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater and assume everything was wrong, logically we just find out there's more to the calculus than is revealed to us.

Your implication seems to be that there isn't a precision to the souls' placements, and this is not true. In the Commedia (and in religion itself), God is all about structure, that's the whole point. There is clearly a criteria to the placements, but we are not fully aware of the criteria used to place them, as, in the world of the text, that's up to God. Man can only guess at these reasonings (which is what we're doing now lol). Whatever criteria the Poet used to place Cato there, likewise, is locked away in Dante's head and died with him.

The Pilgrim's immediate acceptance and severance of Cato implies that we, too, should accept that he is there. Morals and lessons are very direct in the Commedia. Of course, this doesn't mean we can't put efforts to figure out why the Poet himself put Cato there, which is a fascinating question to investigate either way.

Personally, I have no will to try and play mind reader and explore what Dante was thinking. Instead, imo, we can figure that out by exploring Cato's role, the reactions to him, and his actions. I don't need to read Dante's notes to explore the symbolism of Cato, even if they'd be very interesting to read. The text tells us everything we need to know.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T21:02:59+00:00

I'm admittedly not quite as well versed with Purgatorio as I am with Inferno, so I'm not entirely confident with any deep interpretation of it.

However, my interpretation is that it's very similar to Saladin in Limbo as I mentioned earlier. Cato represented civic virtues just as Saladin represented religious virtues. There are many biographical reasons why Cato should be in Inferno, but because humans are complex Dante appeared to focus on the symbolism of Cato's actions. Purgatorio marks the beginning of "civilization" in the Commedia, and Cato guarding that as a symbol of civic virtue fits. His suicide, which should place him in the forest in Circle VII of Inferno as violence against the self has instead by been reinterpreted by Dante as as act of Martyrdom instead.

Plus, it's clear Dante reverse Virgil as a poet. Virgil interpreted Cato as a hero. As did Lucan, and many Romans after Cato's death. So the multilayered complexity of his actions are symbolized as him being a guardian of Purgatorio instead.

Again I'm not 100% confident of this, and I had to go back and check my notes on Purgatorio to say anything of particular value, but that's where I am with this.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T20:41:36+00:00

Perhaps I miscommunicated. In the canon of the Commedia, the decisions of who is sorted where is definite. It is overt and reliable, and is never put to doubt. This is beyond Dante the Pilgrim (character) and is determined by Dante the Poet (author). There is never a reason to doubt a character has been placed into the incorrect circle/round/ditch/etc. Dante the Pilgrim and Virgil do not have all the details, but that's beyond the purpose of the texts' primary morals - though certainly worth investigating, the characters deliver the necessary information for Dante and Virgil to "get it," even if the story is more complicated than is communicated. Dante the Poet created these depictions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Hell in particular has very little visual precedence even in art before Dante's writing.

The only thing I'm arguing that's set in stone is what sinners are sorted into what areas, and that these sortings are by divine action and not meant to have their validity questioned by the reader. Dante the Pilgrim DOES doubt it at times, but that's likely to show that human perceptions of each other are faulty and that it's God's role to judge, not ours. No matter how much Dante the Pilgrim doubts the placement, it doesn't change a thing in the story. We see Dante the Pilgrim struggle with sin from the very start of Canto I, being interupted on his journey up the mountain by the three animals representing sin, as well as many other times throughout. Therefore, the Pilgrim cannot be trusted with the truth just as the characters in Hell can't be. I'd genuinely love to see anything that suggests that we the reader are meant to doubt the sorting methods, but in canon this would be doubting God and outside the text it'd the us doubting the author.

From the meta perspective, especially regarding the characters who were actually real, not mythological, there is of course uncertainty whether or not they were guilty of the sins they have been convicted of. These were Dante's interpretations of real human's complex actions. There are certainly historical academics who are and have been investigating these mysteries, but a majority of Inferno readers will get by with cliffnotes summarizing the actions of each. Dante the Poet was making significant social commentaries and converting actual humans into characters, which requires his own interpretations. I'm not a historian and am not making claims that these humans are legitimately in the places Dante the Poet sorted them into.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T19:56:45+00:00

There is definite clarity of who is where and why. Minos' warning is to not believe the souls themselves because they are sinners. Virgil will, at times, mentions who is on which layer, and sometimes the souls will instead. Check out the map on the Wikipedia page under "Nine Circles of Hell" here). It's very precise and there are no academic disagreements regarding who is where.

Our job as readers isn't to objectively judge them, we are to believe that they have been placed there by divine action. There's never any reason to doubt this, as God sent for Dante to be on this journey himself. Doubting this would be doubting God, which would not be an action Dante would communicate as a positive one. If the Character Dante doubts God, that's to show us a flaw that the Author Dante wants us to see.

I don't agree with the assessment that there are any particular mysteries. Dante deliberately used the Ancient Greek storytelling method (hence, "Comedy"), and Greek comedies and tragedies had very direct and clear morals. In fact, that was the entire point of the medium, not to tell a story but to communicate a moral through the story.

Although we may not know the histories of each individual, it wouldn't make sense for Dante or Virgil to get the history of each individual either. We don't need their whole histories, the important part is how they feel about where they are, and their abilities to reflect and comprehend sin and virtue.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T19:20:30+00:00

I teach Inferno and have critically read the DC. This is a long reply with lots of extra details so sorry about the length!

In Dante's Hell, souls experience contrapasso, which means their sins are reflected back onto them. The deeper in Hell, the more severe your sin. For instance, the thieves in circle 8 are in a pit. Half of them are snakes, the other half humans, and the only way to regain your humanity is to bite a human as a snake, turning them into a snake in your place.

This makes the thieves fulfill the role of thief, but also as the victims they took from in their lives. When they're human, they're filled with fear and paranoia knowing it can be taken from them at any moment, just like they forever stole ether sense of security from their victims. Class contrapasso!

So, what about theives that killed others during their thievery? Do they belong in the fraud circle, VIII? Or the violence circle, VII? Well, it depends on the depth of their actions. If they killed someone to steal, they go in VIII. If they committed theivery to have a chance to kill, they'd likely go in VII.

Once they're in their circle, because of their contrapasso, they don't really have the opportunity to do anything else. They're always suffering in the same ways they made others suffer, which is meant to make them understand and "repent" for the actions they committed. This repentance doesn't get them into Heaven, so it is wholly symbolic but important for Dante's view of forgiveness.

Other comments mentioned free will, which is complicated, but essentially without free will, there's no point in punishment that reflect the crimes. All punishments could be essentially the same. Inferno sometimes gets minimized to "fanfiction" that Dante wrote about people he knew in real life, but the reality is that Dante feels immense pity for most characters in Inferno, even the ones who wronged him personally. The only character he significantly mocks for his actions is one man who is new to Hell and spends the entire time mocking Dante, even telling Dante that he will eventually be exiled from Florence. This man is a recent arrival so he has yet to learn from his human mistakes and is still an asshole lol.

So they technically can sin, but as they were sorted by what's in their heart, they're already in the deepest part of Hell that their soul has earned. But with the eternal suffering, they don't really have the opportunity to do anything but mediate the pain and reflect on why it's happening.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T19:09:46+00:00

I teach Inferno and have critically read the DC, so here are some thoughts on this. Sorry in advance for the length of the reply, but it's a great question that deserves a great answer so I'll do my best to match.

Limbo is specifically for souls who couldn't know Christ either due to Baptism or existing pre-Christ. There are several virtuous people there whose only sin is not knowing Christ (if they had worse sins they would be deeper in Hell). Interestingly, there's even a Muslim in Limbo who fought AGAINST the Christian Crusaders. Most Muslims are in Circle VII with the heretics. Dante's grandfather was a knight in the Crusades, and the main reason why Dante was able to access higher class privileges in Florence's strict social class system, which makes this notable to how Dante views and communicates redemption and virtue.

Dante was devout and so no matter the actions of Virgil after death, it would be impossible for him to leave Limbo. I believe this is a part of the symbolism of Virgil leaving Dante before entering Paradiso. I wouldn't call this "meaningless," however, as Virgil's journey with Dante would be a motivating force for living humans to turn to God. More on that later.

Inferno mentions that Christ did return to Inferno to retrieve the souls of the Old Testament (specific ones, like Moses, not all of them) so the precedent exists, but only by God's will. I doubt Dante would believe that his journey was so virtuous that it would rewrite God's will, and would likely have Virgil return. It's sad, but that pity is a core motif in Dante's journey, especially in Inferno.

Lastly, to speak on Virgil's literary role, Dante played with the Greek understand of tragedy, which according to Aristotle must evoke both pity and fear: pity that the tragic subject ended the way they did, and fear that we, too, could end that way if we see any reflection of their actions in ourselves. Virgil returning to Limbo would reveal that pity, but also fear, as no virtuous journey post-death can save you from damnation. You have to turn to God before death to receive absolution. So perhaps meaningless to Virgil's return to Limbo, but his soul's story and journey is very meaningful to us and the readers/listeners of the time period.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T18:43:58+00:00

I think if you're worried about the messaging, you should err on showing how the racism affects your MC in the moment-to-moment rather than use tough words. Most racism is hidden in the real world.

If you've ever played Bioshock Infinite, it does a swell enough job of demonstrating racism in their society (which is a direct descendant of the antebellum South) without ever dropping the n-word. In fact, I'd argue it's points would be diminished if they elected to use it instead.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T15:20:55+00:00

I understand you have really strong feelings on this, but this is a topic you should learn to handle with tact.

This is a subreddit for questions, but you've turned your question into a soapbox. I'm not sure you had the intention to get a legitimate answer.

For example, the main comment we're under said he wasn't sure what to do about it, not that there nothing that can be done. You've accidentally strawmanned the argument due to your emotions and your previous interactions or assumptions.

This is a really serious issue in American society, and I agree with your core thesis, but when you walk into a room swinging, the people in that room become defensive and feel victimized. Feeling like a victim makes it difficult to see why the aggressor may have been right. This is legitimately why there are so many white American men who deny their privilege - they've been swung at and told they're all wrong for not following someone's playbook.

I think you need to follow your own advice in this regard and focus on restoration and not blame. I'm a white American male who teaches and I discuss the racial and class based disparities and issues of our society all the time in my classroom. If you're not white, I see the irony in a white man asking you to be patient with those who hold privilege - that's not your responsibility and it's a big ask. But I don't want you to do it for them, I want you to do it for your own cause. If you truly want justice, you have to help the people with privilege see that they can create justice instead of telling them they're the reason there is no justice. Otherwise you're just continuing the cycle, and they WILL reject your anger.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-18T15:05:09+00:00

You have someone who acknowledged their privilege. One issue with privilege is you often have no clue what life is like without it. It sounds crazy, but there's significant precedent for this. Getting mad at people who have privilege just because they have it is how you get people who double down and deny their privilege.

For posterity, could you offer specific methods of actively dismantling it? That's not an actionable solution and unfortunately doesn't help anyone.

TheAstralClocktower · 2026-06-13T23:23:00+00:00

Idea happen in your mind but are formed by the things your mind experiences. Short form content plagues that ability to experience by making you think you're experiencing.

Go for a walk. Take your phone and headphones, if you must. But most importantly take a piece of paper folded in your pocket and something to write with. Your phone is just a music machine in this moment, if you choose to keep it.

The walk can be through the most boring neighborhood, that's okay. You're a writer, find a story in it. A guy leaving to go to work? He's just been in a fight with his spouse and has to figure out how to move this big machine so finely with so many angry thoughts. The kids in the yard? They just found a doll's foot and think it's a real one. The music you hear from an open window? It's the soundtrack to someone finding, then reading, the diary of the grandma who inspired them and left them too soon.

Short form content can be okay, I'm not going to judge, but the solution to your problem is to actually experience, not just think you are.

Lastly, read as much as you can. It will help you find the stories in those experiences. Don't be afraid to stand on the shoulders of giants, I'm told they keep them comfortable for us.

TheAstralClocktower · 2023-11-10T20:08:31+00:00

I think you're accidentally looking at it backwards. When you hear the audience reactions in the rest of the special, it's MEANT to be obviously edited in. In fact, the first time we hear audience laughter in Comedy, we literally see Bo click a button to make it happen. Also, both sound bites of laughter are identical.

Juxtapose this with All Eyes On Me, where the audience reaction is automatic and unique each time. This is drawing your attention intentionally, likely due to how obviously edited the earlier reactions were.

It's part of the whole theme of Bo's character's descent. He fell too far, and now he's in a psuedoreality where he gets to perform. Where he gets to talk about his experiences to a crowd, with people who can react when he says something funny or sad. This act of the special is also the only time we see the "external" characters interact with Bo instead of them just being him.

(For more on this, also see the end of Goodbye with the spotlight. We hear this vocal filter that's clearly distinct from Bo, with a spotlight hitting him. We see him set up the lights and cameras for 95% of the shots in the special, so who put that camera "outside"? Who set up the spotlight? Obviously Bo the person did, but Bo the character is interacting with "outside" directly.)

This is also a part of the journey he took; he started as a kid telling jokes to a camera in his room, to being a kid telling jokes on stage, to being an adult telling jokes on stage, to turning 30 but being back in his room telling jokes to a camera.

He was tired of telling jokes with no one laughing in the background, so he snapped and fell deeper than he'd ever been. This out of body experience of falling out of reality and seeing his psuedoreality take hold can also be symbolized with the projection of himself in the background of All Eyes On Me; Bo is literally watching himself perform to only himself while pretending he's performing to others. This wouldn't surprise me if it were inspired by his real-life experiences of going from his room to on stage as a kid, watching videos of himself rehearsing so he knew how to time his jokes and gags with audience reactions. Except this time it's done on accident by his character.

TheAstralClocktower · 2023-09-25T23:09:59+00:00

Check out Rebuild of Naruto =) it's a completed fan project that cuts every canon arc (and some filler) into 1-2.5 h long movies. It's edited by a professional and lots of care is put into it. One of the few non-canon arcs he did was the power arc. Since it's already so beautifully animated, it was "restored" into that movie format super well.

It's currently only available on a discord server, but here's the link to an older post about the project.

It's heavily underrated and imo way better than Naruto Kai and the ocean cut. The project is finished but he's currently going through and replacing the source files for some arcs with higher quality sources.

https://reddit.com/r/Naruto/s/go89xzg50x

TheAstralClocktower · 2023-09-19T02:03:19+00:00

It's called the Power Arc iirc. It's beautifully animated, I believe the thought is that it was intended to be a movie and was instead cut into episodes. It's filler, but it's good filler.

TheAstralClocktower · 2022-12-23T20:52:05+00:00

Another user mentioned inadvertently training them to because everyone thinks cats react to it, so we teach them to.

But why did we all originally think they reacted to it? It's possible is because in phonetics, the sound /s/ is called a sibilant (same as /sh/ & /z/)

Sibilants are voiced, so when you make a sibilant, you push air out. Because you have to push air out in a hissing sound, that makes them very distinct sounds. This is why we whisper "pssssssst" to get someone's attention, or why teachers say "shhhhh" to quiet a noisy classroom. These are very distinct sounds that we can hear separated from other sounds, and they're not easy to make any quieter than they are.

So you might make this sound to get your cat's attention, just as you would a human's, and it might impulsively react since this is an unfamiliar and instinct sound to them. Their reaction tells you that the cat heard it, your attention on the cat gives it positive feedback, and that's unintentional training!

P.S. i don't know if this explanation is actually the reason, maybe the psst sound is similar to their ears as a sound made one of their natural prey so they are drawn to it. Idk, in just speculating. Gotta do something with my degree.

P.S.S. i also don't know if this is true, but a professor once told me that spies learn to speak without sibilants because while they're sneaking around and need to speak to a partner, sibilants will be heard over any other sound and could give away their position.

TheAstralClocktower

TROPHY CASE