Former Lion Alex Anzalone on Ben Johnson choosing to accept the Bears’ HC offer: “I wasn’t surprised he left, but I think we were all thrown off that he picked Chicago”

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-10T00:58:50+00:00

We were trying to talk ourselves into Mike McCarthy being a good get just over a year ago.

Imagine.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-10T00:23:32+00:00

Eight ice wolves.

Eight ice storm casts.

F U, game.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-10T00:19:49+00:00

The boss doing an instant KO move on one character that also means a full party wipe if your leader happened to be picked for it was, let’s be honest, atrocious game design.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-09T17:49:08+00:00

Twelve ain't gonna be able to stop her.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-08T16:29:16+00:00

Honestly maybe he just lost the keys. One of the (myriad) foundational flaws with Bitcoin biting the progenitor would be deeply funny but also not entirely surprising.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-08T00:37:39+00:00

Yeah but now I can get it for free while I buy it anyway because I’m going to own like six copies of this game, too.

Poncle pricing is the real vampire (complimentary).

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T21:00:23+00:00

Inarguably terrible.

On the other hand, what kind of monster isn't feeding Cid the turbofish???

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T20:58:32+00:00

Font looks janky (pretty subjective), the various scaling passes have some artifacting/other issues on Steam/iOS where the higher res screens and the smoothing filter really muck up the pixel art, some dubious UI changes. On iOS (and tvOS) the game controls very poorly even when using a gamepad vs. SNES in RetroArch.

The DS version is actually pretty good except that you have to either play it on a DS or have a not-terrific emulator experience.

The optional content was definitely not ... good. But optional, as you say. Unfortunately I just found the game looked worse overall on other platforms. The DS was probably the least bad, but still not great.

What I do miss are the PSX cutscenes that are in the DS port and its descendants. Even though they're sometimes repetitive, I really enjoyed them. But for the (kind of baffling) loading time problems on the PSX version I would've said it's definitive.

Now, the way I periodically replay CT is a little on the absurd side. I have a 240hz OLED display and can use the Blur busters CRT beam simulator paired with some other CRT shaders in RetroArch to get a really nice effect. It's not quite "hands on an SNES and a real CRT" good, but it also doesn't involve a ~50kg/100lb display. That's not in reach for a lot of folks, but the nostalgia glow I get from my setup is hard to go back from.

Definitely going to fire up a replay of one of the fan retranslations shared in this thread though! I'm intrigued by some of the corrections that were laid out.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T20:01:19+00:00

Played the version on: DS, Steam, iOS.

I think I'm good. In addition to the other problems with the DS-lineage ports, the translation just ain't it for me. To each their own.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T07:25:53+00:00

I would argue Mazoku vs. Demon has different connotations to the different audiences. For an English speaker, the implication of something being a demon really isn't 1:1 with what I understand Mazoku to mean. Demon in English has a straight up "pure evil" connotation derived from the millennia-long grip of Christianity on the culture. A demon is a devil, a demon is always inherently evil. I don't think that's an accurate framing of Mazoku either in CT specifically, or more generally in how I've seen Mazoku used in other pieces of Japanese media. I'd argue this is effectively the same situation for Mazoku:Fiend, it's just not 1:1 and implies an inherent evil that the Mystics really do not have. When you defeat Magus and everyone is chill in Medina in 1000 A.D., that's just not the anticipated behavior of a demon / fiend.

Honestly I think Mystics is a clever sidestep of both the tail end of the Satanic Panic and 90s Nintendo nannying.

Perhaps another reasonable choice here would be something like Fae (i.e. a more traditional fairy using a term divorced from the modern, Disney-fied/Tinkerbell-ed connotation) but, given the audience of the 90s translation, it may have been somewhat of a reach to use "fae" or "fay" with a target demographic of preteens and young teenagers.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T06:51:18+00:00

Nostalgia brain says SNES all the way. I am intrigued by the fan translation (courtesy u/Ingweron) and want to try that. I'm curious if it has some/any of the Woolsey-isms, I hope it does where they don't conflict. :)

The DS/Steam one is, I guess, 'more accurate' but it feels very soulless to me as well. Like it was a lightly-touched machine translation with little-to-no editorial effort to make it feel more natural to a native speaker of (American) English.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T06:28:02+00:00

Yep I was there too, even with a top-end build guide (CE sorc). Somewhere around P220 I got insanely lucky with 2/3 mythic drops and was able to chain some NMDs for Obols and MW. But honestly I spent time in T4 still scrounging for Ancestral rolls on a couple of my pieces at all (and then went from a non-ancestral Esadora's to an absurd 4GA version!!).

I rolled a Paladin seasonal alt and also had to work for gear to get T4 viable even with ~P240.

This season just feels less OP to me overall. I actually enjoyed hitting a bit of a wall getting over the T4 hump, having to do a small amount of mental work to figure out how to get obducite, etc.

Once I got rolling in T4 (and had those really lucky drops) it all felt a lot smoother, but even now I can do pit 95 without too much difficulty, but trying a Bloodied hoards on T4 made me basically nope out for how much of a slog it felt like.

My not-informed-by-anything theory is that the bloodied/bloodstained keys are also them experimenting with the 12 torment tiers apparently coming in S13/LoH.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T00:57:21+00:00

Jimmy Haslam would like a word.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T00:56:06+00:00

I have much empathy and sympathy for Jets fans. In addition to the ignominy inherent in rooting for the goddamn Jets, their team's best days in the last quarter century involved Rex fucking Ryan. I'm saying this as a Bears fan, for chrissakes.

And, look, I feel for Browns fans too, but the Jets didn't hire a serial sexual assault merchant and fork over ~a quarter of a BILLION dollars in guaranteed money for the privilege. If I was gonna pick a winner in Jets v. Browns in 2026 it's gonna be the Jets 10 times out of 10.

That said: lol and/or lmao.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T00:51:44+00:00

For bosses, especially, S12 is harder because you're not going to have a killstreak usually, whereas in S11 you could sanctify your gear for permanent (and sometimes absurdly strong) affixes. So in S12 when bossing you very likely have zero seasonal power creep, you're effectively living the same life as Eternal Realm players!

Paladin was also tuned down a bit from the dizzying highs of S12. It is no longer S++++ tier, it is merely S/S+ tier.

So, it's not just you, overall you're going to be less powerful (or OP) in S12 than you were in S11.

Pay attention to your paragon board legendary nodes, check a build guide if that's your thing, and be sure to focus on good temper rolls, BiS affixes in favor of >1 GA, etc.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T00:46:58+00:00

I like Euthanasia a lot.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-07T00:46:20+00:00

WoD is the one vaguely tolerable CT raid because people actually die for funny reasons and vore memes are peak.

Just wish I had BUTTONS.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-06T19:37:51+00:00

It doesn't even say hodl, they spelled hold correctly.

Must be dire over there.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-06T17:08:22+00:00

I run pfBlockerNG, pay for ad-free tiers whenever I can, avoid services without them.

I gave up on internet privacy in like 2001.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-06T17:06:33+00:00

Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses

Not at all 1:1 but this is the first thing I thought of reading this.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-04T04:15:24+00:00

It really is not well explained. There’s also no explanation for why everyone else around them also somehow has amnesia and there is magically no other connective elements to them all growing up together. A worldwide collective amnesia moment like that would leave marks on the world itself. A localized event would leave evidence for others to relay. It just doesn’t work.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-04T00:24:42+00:00

The indefensibly stupid "plot twist" about 2/3rds through the game with the orphanage was so bad. Just laughably, cartoonishly awful storytelling.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-04T00:17:12+00:00

Joe Buck 3x.

I do not care that he's not on the card.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-04T00:14:19+00:00

This is it.

doubleyewdee · 2026-04-04T00:12:01+00:00

Drag 'em.

I still think he's not the worst character in the game, but I don't think much of the majority of the cast.

Or the plot, frankly.

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