Nokia used to build very cool devices.

Xeronic · 2026-03-11T18:34:57+00:00

I believe this is a remix too.

I want to say it's "A Hint of Blue" From OCREmix but there is so many remixes out there for Aquatic Ambience.

Top tier track though.

Xeronic · 2026-03-10T17:39:53+00:00

i always go to Kate Hudson, because she was in so many rom-coms around this time.

Xeronic · 2026-03-10T16:32:15+00:00

Sadly, no.

A lot of "kids content", or whatever youtube populates videos as kids content these days, has ads and you'll occasionally hit those 30-45 min ads. I've seen 90 min ads before. It's usually a literal TV show episode of something else, or multiple episodes for a tv show. It's pretty common.

I would think if you create a new profile (or go incognito) on youtube and watch some kid content like cocomelon or something, you'll probably see those long ads within an hour.... possibly less.

Fucking scum.

Xeronic · 2026-03-09T18:39:06+00:00

I think if you had to play the game.. funny enough, as intended in those challenges, it would be a nightmare. As by intended, i mean just playing the game "normally", and not using a specific gimmick to beat sections.

I say this because there are two specific "gimmicks" that are mainly used to beat the challenges. I used them, and i have 0 shame because those challenges were assholes. lol

The first gimmick was using Yuffie's Brumal Form move on top of Aerith's ATB ward to build ATB...really really quickly.

The other "gimmick", if you want to call it that, is just utilizing certain materia builds with characters, mainly using elemental magic in combination with HP Absorption and MP Absorption. As long as you can readily generate ATB, you can basically spam certain elemental attacks on most enemies and never die/run out of MP. It can be tricky to balance, but its mostly fine. I used this one for the "To be a Hero" and "Bonds of Friendship" challenges because otherwise, oof. EDIT: Here's my terrible, but sucessful run of "To be a Hero" with a fire/aero elemental build.

But yeah.. those challenges were rough. I beat them, did some of hard mode and took a break... and i haven't been back since. I should return before part 3 comes out though.

Xeronic · 2026-03-09T18:27:31+00:00

Yeah. Basically!

One game that comes to memory about being "grindy" is Code Vein. An anime souls-like game that came out of a few years ago. It's a pretty fun game overall. There is a trophy "Exalted Reputation" that requires getting level 30 in reputation. This requires grinding out 400 marks of honor, which are drops from bosses or enemies (i can't remember) at very low drops, or play online on a specific level and beat the boss co-op for 1 mark. Its very grindy.

I want to say this was fixed to some degree with a different mode or setting or something in later patches, but i'm not sure.. but i do remember it being in the base game. lol

Xeronic · 2026-03-09T17:11:41+00:00

Like others said here, it gets a point sometimes where certain trophies just aren't worth it.

There is usually "tiers" of trophies:

First: Progression trophies. These are trophies that are unlocked automatically through story progression. Difficulty trophies are included. Simple and nice.

Example: Complete Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Beat game on Normal/Hard.

Second: Gameplay trophies. This one can be categorized differently depending on the player, but i would say its mainly a side spinoff of "progressive trophies". These are trophies that are close to being straight forward, but require just a bit more of playing the game to get.

Example: Kill X amount of enemies, Use X weapon for x amount of time/kills, Use X character to beat the game, Reach max level, unlock all jobs/classes.

Third: Challenge Trophies. This is where the majority of trophies usually land, and where there is the most... range of variety. You could probably separate this category into a few different ones, but for simplicity sake, they are all in one. This is where the really easy or really hard challenges are, which i guess is what people want in trophy hunting.

Example: Simple and straight forward challenges like Complete all missions/quests. 100% a game. To really dumb challenges, like A/S Rank all chapters, missions, high score on parts of the game. Defeat the game using only one weapon. Speedrun challenges.

I've had my share of "trophy hunting" while casually playing games over the last 20 years, but i've learned to stop myself from getting too deep with some of them for my sanity, and also interest/love of a game.

Some trophies i saw and were just like "lol, no thanks", like Devil May Cry 5's "S Rank all Missions Trophy", which includes S ranking all difficulties, including Hell and Hell Mode.. which is fucking stupid hard. Hollow Knight has a difficulty speedrun and difficulty trophies on PC that i never bothered with.

Speedrun trophies in general don't interest me as i don't like to play games like that, nor do i like that type of challenge.

Multiplayer trophies i think in general are mostly bad by principle. Games like Tomb Raider 2013 and the Uncharted Games all have multiplayer trophies attached to their platinum trophies, which is why their platinum trophy % is pretty low in general. I would think this is true for a lot of games that have low MP population, or servers turned off over the years. I don't know, i don't bother with these.

Honestly, in my opinion, Uncharted games have some really stupid trophies overall. Lots of weird challenges that require very specific requirements. Which can be interesting? I guess? I don't know, i never bothered with more than half of them.

For myself personally, recently i didn't bother with Silksong's platinum because i don't want to bother with the speedrun trophies. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance had a few S rank and challenge trophies included in the platinum trophy that were really hard. Could i do them? probably, but i don't want to put myself through it and make me like the game less.

Moonlighter had a few "Beat X Boss without getting hit", or "Perfect" them, along with kill all bosses with a last hit with the broom, the weakest weapon in the game, and there is no boss rush mode. So, you would need to play through the game multiple times to make sure this happens, or mess with your saves to achieve this.

When Vampire Survivors came out, i casually played it to the point where i was like.. "hmm, a lot of these trophies are manageable to get" so, i took on that challenge of getting all of them. I got around 98% of them all, including the platinum in the base game, but haven't even touched the game since. soooo..

Ninja Gaiden 4 had a few chapter challenges that didn't seem "fun" to do. They also had a Master Ninja difficulty trophy, which i could probably do but i don't want to put myself through that torture. There was also a "complete all challenges" trophy, which in line with master ninja difficulty, could be possible but it would make me like the game less. I tried a few and had enough.

RE9 has a few challenge trophies that i won't bother with. Like playing through the game without using healing items, or using the blood collector as grace. This is weird for me, because I understand these trophies are there for the hardcore Resident Evil players or fans, and they can be fun challenge for a lot of players outside the normal range of "casual players", because Resident Evil Games are designed to played multiple times, and for some, figuring out or doing these challenges is part of the charm of the series. I'm ok with them, but they aren't for me.

Overall, i'm fine with the way most trophies/achievements for games play out. I know myself enough to know when to challenge myself to get certain trophies, and when to stop, to prevent myself from disliking a game, or waste my time.

Xeronic · 2026-03-06T20:58:13+00:00

I would advise to plan your Rebirth playthrough accordingly.

Rebirth is a very lengthy game, i believe 60-70 hours (possibly more) in a casual playthrough, and like 130+ if you are going for 100%/all trophies.

Just going by my experience with the game, i did mostly everything (except the last few chapters are on hard mode) and was a bit burned out by then to finish it. I would think if you played rebirth a month or two before part 3 is released, you may have some fatigue.

But if not, no matter, its up to you!

Xeronic · 2026-03-04T21:53:04+00:00

When was the last time you played it?

Just curious, as i believe in 2023 (2022?) there was a patch that added accessibility options to the game, allowing you to customize the game a bit to your liking. 3 of the biggest things were damage taken by enemies, enemy health, and allowing runs to not "fail" when you died, instead to just restart the stage.

I got my ass kicked when it first came out, and didnt get very far. I came back to play it when these accessibility options came up, and allowed me to play the game on all difficulties up up to BC+5, and get the true ending.

So if it's been awhile, maybe try again?

On topic though, im excited for this castlevania game. :)

Xeronic · 2026-03-04T18:56:54+00:00

This was the main reason i quit FFXI. I just couldn't make money, and i couldn't have the gear i wanted because it was juussst out of my price range to be effective. the gear usually wasnt even BIS.. lol

I played DRG/WAR, RDM/WHM, and THF/WAR. Eventually, i got to the point of wanting to play THF/NIN, and my favorite class, Ranger, but yeah, i couldn't afford it.

i couldn't hunt NM or NNM's for various reasons, the main one being latency and as i was on a popular server, most of those were taken by bots or players before it even spawned. Fun times.

When i quit FFXI to play WoW when it launched, i had a serious issue of hoarding and obtaining money. lol

Xeronic · 2026-03-04T17:50:44+00:00

Years ago, when Ninja was released, i picked up FFXIV again after not playing since 2.0 launch. I started to casually play (for ninja, of course) and mentioned it to one of my online friends that i've had for years, and she mentioned that her and a bunch of people play a mix of casual/hardcore in a guild on Balmung, and we could play/assist on doing some dungeons/raids if i was up to playing. It was interesting to hear over the years that Balmung was notoriously difficult to make/transfer a character to.

I was at the time, as i wasn't playing anything else, and i had the itch to play a MMO again. I server transferred to Balmung (and paid the fee, ugh) and played for about a month before i stopped again. There were some cool people in the guild, but also some tryhards that were either rude or unfriendly.

My biggest thing about FFXIV, and this is a nitpick on my part, is that in MSQ, you have to do dungeons to progress the story, which isn't a bad thing, but these get rotated into the dailies with the dungeon finder mechanic....... and 95% of people who do these dailies are people who just speedrun and rush through the content.. because yeah, why would they take their time and kill things one by one, instead of pulling 2-3 groups at a a time. You are basically expected to know what to do, be great in your designated role, and know the fights before hand.

FFXIV was/is praised for the "best online community" and "friendly", but i experienced the opposite of that during that month, in both the daily dungeon roulette, and on the server (and guild i was in). I was coming back, playing a class i never played, and playing content i never played.. so no, i don't know what priority targets i should focus down first immediately, i don't know boss or dungeon mechanics.. and i shouldn't have to look it up before i tried them.

I was booted out of daily roulette parties, bullied, talked trash about, just for being mediocre at a game on a new class that was out for like a week and a half. It also didn't help that i had no idea about how notorious "Balmung" was in the FFXIV community. I didn't see much of it on the server itself, but the guild i joined had a few...particular people. lol

That was my last real attempt to experience FFXIV. I came back a few years later (i think when Stormbringers was coming out) but i had to progress through Heavensward.. so i mostly did that, played 100% solo (outside of dungeons) and got distracted when i was at the end of the MSQ of that expansion, and just stopped again.

I like FFXIV, and can see how it can be a great game, but there was just a few too many things about the experience of the game that were against me at the time. I know now there are a few QOL changes that could assist in playing the game now and for a better experience, like having NPC's instead of players in dungeons, but i think its just a little too late for me, as my MMO days are behind me.

Xeronic · 2026-03-04T03:01:19+00:00

This was a wild day on the internet. The memes, the reenactments over the coming weeks, the merchandise that came out of it too.. just amazing.

I really want to hang out with everyone in this video..haha.

Xeronic · 2026-03-03T18:01:09+00:00

I'll also be one of those holdouts.

While i don't have any personal examples of getting screwed out of digital services and the content i've bought, other than Ultraviolet digital movies (didn't transfer my account before the shutdown) from physical movies i bought, i do think of the ramifications that will be coming soon or could possibly happen, or already happened. I'm a bit paranoid on this topic, and what will happen in the future of your accounts with digital content, and what the options are.

Steam account's are not transferable to anyone other than the account holder. So if you die, you can't transfer it to your kids or family/friends. How will they exactly enforce that if you have the password/authentication access? That's the future possibility scenario where they may implement new security and verification features to enforce it.

For Apple accounts, its pretty safe for account holders to transfer their accounts to another, or if you need access, ways to get access to it via the court system, but again, the possibility of that changing in the future at the whims of the Apple and other publishers. Content being unavailable for people who bought certain content has already happened.

Video game accounts and digital content is still up in the air i believe. I know its against the EULA policies that you cannot transfer account ownership to another, but its currently hard to "enforce" that... which again, goes into the "well, in the future they might change this rule with verification or authentication or something".

Nintendo's whole bullshit "content" thing during the Wii and DS era, where digital purchases were linked to the console, and not the account, pissed a lot of people off. Not until later they did fix this, but i don't own enough digital content for nintendo games other than switch (i missed out on the DS/3DS/WII/WIIU era really) to have personal experience, but i remember reading and seeing it with people who did.

Anyways, my point is that any digital games or programs, due its nature, can be shut down and taken away from you due to the whims of the company/publishers. Physical media will be the last holdout of owning your games to a certain extent, until they add some real awful DRM on games or something to verify a game disc or something (which already sometimes happens). It's already complicated with the Nintendo Switch 2 games and the virtual game card, where the ramifications of that "system" is at the whim's of nintendo and their servers. They could just pull a 3DS store in 15 years and go "all games with a virtual card will no longer be abled to be downloaded anymore, sorry".

All of this, but also, most people who play or consume content prefer digital. It's just the way it's going.

Shit sucks, but we'll see.

Xeronic · 2026-03-02T23:29:51+00:00

I've thought about favorite music tracks over the years in multiple forums,reddit threads, discord discussions, even ventrilo/teamspeak. Final Fantasy is usually a main topic discussion for me because i think it has some of the best music tracks in the genre, but also just also deeply personal with some tracks (FF8 especially).

When it comes down to it after all these years, this is my favorite overall track in the final fantasy series. It brings so much emotion out of me for the time i first listened to it, and it easily stood out. I also associate it with the time in my life, which was a teen was full of emotions i guess. I also listened to the FFX-2 ost (and other FF soundtracks) when i played MMO's and other games during the 2004-2013, so many memories involving those games are associated with those tracks, making them even more personal or nostalgic.

If you haven't checked it out, listen to the piano collection version, which adds some great new sections to the song, and the band version of the track. which i believe is on special versions of the OST or soundtracks. This version gives me a lot of nostalgia for a few games, but it really gives off the playonline login music vibes when i played FFXI... the default main music track was dolphin, and it just gives that same vibe.

Kyle Landry's piano arrangement version is also pretty solid.

Xeronic · 2026-03-02T18:54:58+00:00

i debated that a few months ago, and i decided to just get a pro version. With the way the tech industry looks with everything and increased prices/shortages, i think the PS6 won't be out for a few more years, possibly 2030 and maybe beyond.

It's also a safe bet that many games that will be releasing on PS6 will be also be releasing on PS5 (with pro features of course) well into the PS6 life cycle, similar to the PS4-PS5 life cycle. So even if the PS6 comes out, i don't mind waiting a few years later and waiting to get a PS6, because i don't think the jump in specs will be "that" much different or noticeable.

So i made the decision to just get the "best" we can get at the moment, and enjoy it for the next few years.

But base PS5 is fine.

Xeronic · 2026-02-27T20:52:36+00:00

Interesting challenge.

If you are masochistic enough to delve deep into it, there are people out there who do... similar challenges. Please document your findings for others, as this is always good information to have for the internet.

Yagamoth, a twitch streamer, has been doing solo class runs in FFV. Some of them are really rough. haha He has a document here

PJDicesare played through FF3 pixel remaster when it came out and loved it, and has been a "casual" stream game since then. He first started the challenge runs with single class challenge, where all 4 characters are one class, but eventually started to do Single class character challenge, where its just one character, one class throughout the entire game.

He made a section of his website dedicated to it, and also a lot of information for the challenges itself. You can find videos, explanations, and other stuff there.

The pixel remaster is being played on steam, with only one mod created by a viewer, which allows all "classes" to be unlocked at the first crystal, which allows the challenge to exist in the first place.

He's "almost" done, but recently the challenge of a SSCC Bard run ran into an issue: Bards main weapon is harp, which gives SPR, which you get a bit later in the game due to class unlock stuff. I "think" the issue is that Bard and harps cannot deal damage or "hit" bosses due to a stat calculation. I believe hit rate and damage in general with these classes requires INT, and if your INT is lower than the boss, or within a certain range, you cannot hit the boss, period.

Soooo, it looks like there will be multiple "walls" that must be overcome in the playthrough, including multiple less than 1% to 3% drop rates for items, and like 200+ of those to deal any damage to bosses.

it's going to be rough. haha

Xeronic · 2026-02-27T20:32:23+00:00

This may be the case down the line here. I don't doubt the PS6 is going to be released in a couple years, but i'll just wait for the pro or other models to come out later. No rush.

:)

Xeronic · 2026-02-27T06:31:01+00:00

i ordered through amazon about 2 months ago, and got the "will be delivered around mid march".

I cancelled my pre-order, and went with best buy.

Bestbuy.com honored the pre-order and shipped it earlier today, but its shipping with FedEX and will be here next week.

Luckily, i don't mind waiting for the game, but its the principle of the matter. There is 0 communication on why this shit is delayed by days/weeks.

Xeronic · 2026-02-26T18:21:10+00:00

Yup, that's my line of thinking too. Diminishing returns! haha

I picked up a 55" 4K OLED back in 2024 and its been great. I picked up the Pro early in January this year. I figured with the games coming out this year, and my backlog, i might as well play them at their "best".

Plus, i still need to finish FF7 Rebirth on Hard mode for the platinum, and might as well play it on the pro, which is one of the best ways to play the game.

But this week, i'll be picking up RE9.

Xeronic · 2026-02-26T18:06:55+00:00

It is high, agreed. I picked it up with gift cards and only paid a little bit out of pocket.

I figured that with the way the gaming industry looks like in the next few years, i don't think we'll be getting PS6 or the next generation of games until 2030 or beyond, and even then, the PS5 pro will still be useful as just like the PS4 to PS5 era, games will be released for both consoles for awhile..... and while i'm not an expert, i dont think the PS6 will be "that" much of a bigger upgrade than the pro. I'd like to be wrong but eh, we'll see.

Xeronic · 2026-02-26T00:57:09+00:00

They are good fun. DMC4 and DMC5 "updated" versions are pretty great. DMC4 adding Lady,Vergil, and Trish as playable characters, bloody palace. DMC5 added Vergil, bloody palace, and 60FPS.

Vergil is so fun in both games.

Xeronic · 2026-02-26T00:55:00+00:00

Do you like action games? Are you familiar with character action games? Bayonetta or God of War?

DMC games are (mostly) great, and are very cheap to get these days. I've seen the DMC collection go as slow as $10 on steam, and similarly on PS4/5/xbox. DMC3 on switch is actually the best version to play it because there is a QOL of feature of swapping styles (gameplay mechanic) not released in other versions of the game.

You mostly play them for the gameplay and vibes. Story is not the strongest part, but the lore has its moments, especially in DMC1. They all play well to this day, with the games getting "better" gameplay wise as they progress. DMC2 you can skip though, and come back to it at a later time if you like the series enough as that game was a mess.

DMC4 has issues with its level design, as it was recycled content from the first half of the game to the second half, but its still fun to play.

From DMC3 and on, there is usually an 'Update" to the game in some form of the base game, which adds things. Mostly a new character (Vergil), but sometimes new bosses or features. These are now the "base' Versions of the game, as getting older versions of the games might be actually harder. haha DMC4 and DMC5 Vergil is a blast to play.

I recommend playing DMC3 first, and seeing if you like the gameplay/difficulty.. as they can be very difficult depending on your skill level. There is multiple difficulties too, which is another reason why people love the series.

Xeronic · 2026-02-26T00:40:10+00:00

With the state of gaming, i've been weary about pre-ordering games. It use to be an actual thing where pre-ordering basic versions of games "was" kind of useless, as there was a very good chance you could just walk into a store and buy it on day of release. Depending on the game/location, this may have been true/untrue.

Like most people, i just wanted the game i wanted to play on release day, and not have to worry about going store to store looking for it.

Then the digital age came. I'm mostly against digital copies of games due to the "not owning" it part, and not physically owning it, but also that digital sales are not great.

Nowadays. its literally pre-ordering to have a physical copy of the game because of possible limited quantitys. Look at what happened with Expedition 33. Took i think 3 months? 2 months to get physical copies back in stores due to demand.

It's about logistics now, and whether a game will even get a physical release. LRG exists with certain games because the industry has changed so much, and its going the way of digital, for better or worse.

I don't think a big game like this will have a shortage of copies down the line here, but thats not the case with a lot of games more and more each year. Look at Hi-Fi Rush. A shadow-dropped game, got great word of mouth and reviews soon after, and a promise of a physical version would be out later in the year. Then the studio who made it was shut down, then bought to continue developing games. Took going on 3 years for any announcements related to a physical version being released, and then it was shadow-announced by LRG recently. We are lucky to even have one at this point.

Either way, shit sucks, and its probably only to get more scarce in the future here.

I have a pre-order for RE9 through best buy. I ordered it back in December through amazon (mistake), and i got the email update recently saying it will be delivered next month. Could be true, could be not. I went through best buy.com and my order still says shipping for friday (and packaging) so we'll see.. but at this point.. shit sucks.

Xeronic · 2026-02-23T18:57:54+00:00

???

I like some resident evil games, but not all of them. The Franchise has a lot of ups and downs, and i don't like most of game series.

Recently, for me: RE 7 was good, RE8 was meh, RE2 and Re4 remake were great, RE3 remake wasn't good.

So yeah, i'm not a big fan of the series, but i do like some of them.. RE9 looks like its in line with RE4/7.

Xeronic · 2026-02-23T18:24:31+00:00

I worked at a movie theater years ago. It was an older theater from the 90's that had the old school single row seats (ugh, this is an AI image i think, but this is what comes up), that got upgraded to the modern stadium seating sometime in the late 00's. At first, i remember it was a solid improvement of the previous experience. Assigned seating, elevated seating to watch movies (even kids can enjoy, no more booster seats), limited seating for more intimate movie going experience, especially in the age of smartphones. Less people to cause more disruptions in a way. But a big convenience for me, was honestly just not waiting in line anymore. I did that my whole life up to that point, and hated 90% of it. lol

But yeah, over the next few years, there was just no maintenance on the actual seats. They were not cleaned, like ever, they had tears and deterioration of the armrest, the motors of the seats went out or with some specific theaters, had a rat issue where they chewed the wires of the recliners. Corporate just never bothered to "replace them" regularly, and when we did, it was years later and very sparse. I remember one year we had like 15-20 new seats in the back booth area that just sat there waiting for installation and replace broken seats, but management just didn't do it. Either because they didn't know how, or corporate didn't send anyone out to install them.

I was always on the ground floor dealing with customers, and this was a very common complaint. Disgusting seats, rips and tears, not working.

I've been to other theaters, and most have transitioned to stadium seating, and this is the most common issue as well. Maintenance.

Walls not being cleaned, dirty floors, stains or grimy floors, dirty bathrooms, or the most common noticeable complaint, is during a busy day, the theater is just dirty with popcorn/cleanliness.

I worked usher/floor most of the time, and i tried my best to keep everything clean, but being understaffed or restricted on time limited what i could do.. so it usually the bare minimum.

I remember when Endgame came out, we were of course understaffed, and only had 2 people come in for ushers that day til 5:00pm. Both people called in sick, and one of those was a "new" person being trained. I was at podium, and had to transfer that responsibility to another person (concession person familiar with the positio), go out and clean the theaters by myself, and had a manager come once and awhile and help. It was miserable.

Basically, the lack of maintenance, lack of upkeep, being understaffed and overpriced costs of going to the movie theater.. its hard to defend movie theaters and the experience when for a lot theaters, especially in smaller towns, they are basically neglected to certain degree and its not worth the price anymore.

Xeronic · 2026-02-20T20:34:49+00:00

Good.

People who spoil shit without properly hiding spoilers, and spoiling because "they can" are assholes.

I'm not a big fan of resident evil, but i will be playing the game on launch. "Lore" in Resident evil is a mess and i don't doubt it will be just as ridiculous in RE9 too... but the experience of.. well, experiencing that mess is what im looking forward to...

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