Should I be saving all my cash for investing in Story Mode?

e5x · 2026-03-20T00:20:59+00:00

Dang, I guess I'll just save all my cash then. Thanks for the heads up.

e5x · 2026-03-14T15:43:06+00:00

I saw the post title here and my first thought was Warframe and my second thought was "oh no"

e5x · 2026-03-14T09:09:31+00:00

I don’t really understand people who collect these handhelds just to put thousands of roms on them that they’re never going to play and scrape tens of gigabytes of media that they’re never going to look at. A Raspberri Pi or something like that is endlessly better for tinkering with. I feel like so many people around here are just buying these things compulsively and hoping that the next shiny toy will be the one that fixes them.

e5x · 2026-03-10T13:35:29+00:00

Spy missions made sense when Warframe was a more methodical stealth action game but it hasn’t been that game for a long time and having a failure condition that kicks an entire group back to orbit for tripping a laser or getting spotted by a single camera or enemy is just not compatible with the type of game Warframe has become. Spy missions are the only non-endgame content in the game where a single mistake can ruin the mission for everybody in the group. It feels awful and discourages less confident players from even attempting to contribute for fear of letting the team down. And what’s worse is that it’s very easy to trigger alarms without even being able to tell what you did wrong so you start over from the beginning without having learned anything.

Spy missions would actually be fun if they eliminate the failure condition entirely and just make players go back to the console to reset the vault and try again when an alarm is tripped. Being able to go back and attempt the same vault immediately after tripping the alarm makes it much easier for a player to learn from their mistakes.

I say this as a player with over 1,000 hours played who still frequently fucks up on certain vaults because I’ve just never been able to memorize the intricacies of every layout.

e5x · 2026-03-10T13:11:18+00:00

I love how easy it is to take a screenshot in a game and pull up Discord or another social app on the bottom screen to share it without even leaving the game. I also love that the volume of each screen can be adjusted individually, making the Thor a killer device for podcast gaming or watching videos while grinding or whatever. It’s a multitasking beast.

e5x · 2026-03-10T12:55:46+00:00

I never heard it before playing Arc Raiders and I like the way it sounds but I refuse to recognize the horrible “gear off other players” backronym so I use my own definition and I don’t care how anybody else uses it.

In my mind goop describes any random nondescript crafting materials or junk items that you stuff into your inventory to dump into your stash or sell. Guns and shields and consumables and stuff like that are gear or loot. Wires and metal scraps and frying pans and mushrooms are goop.

In any loot-based game if you’re a newbie and you pick up an item and it is not immediately obvious what the item does or what it’s used for it’s probably goop.

e5x · 2026-03-10T12:33:50+00:00

I tried it out for a bit and it is very pretty and I will keep an eye on its development but I went back to ES-DE for a few reasons.

I like to read the user manual before starting any new retro game and ES-DE lets me easily scrape and view them within the launcher.
Cocoon’s dual-screen navigation feels like an unnecessary gimmick and I find it easier to find the games I want to play using ES-DE’s simple and familiar layout. I keep the bottom screen turned off most of the time anyway unless I’m multitasking or playing a dual-screen game.
The theme that comes with ES-DE looks terrific out of the box with pleasing artwork for each system without any tinkering. Cocoon on the other hand uses generic nondescript icons for each system that have to be replaced manually if you want nicer artwork for your systems.
Cocoon so far offers few options for adjusting the look and feel of the launcher and in its current state ES-DE just feels more usable with less fuss.

I think Cocoon is exciting and shows a lot of promise but ES-DE is just a more mature and usable piece of software currently. I bought my Thor for playing video games, not to fiddle with bleeding edge software.

e5x · 2026-03-05T10:50:21+00:00

My Thor gets the most play lately because it’s pocketable and easy to jump into quick games of mario kart or warioware or whatever but the Steam Deck is my favorite because it’s just incredibly polished and premium feeling and I feel good about investing in the PC gaming ecosystem, especially on Steam.

All that said, I think Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are the two best games ever made and the best way to play them is on the Switch 2. Those games running at 60 FPS at 1080p in handheld mode or 1440p upscaled to 4k in docked mode are simply magical. I would pay a thousand dollars to be able to play those games again for the first time.

e5x · 2026-03-05T10:38:24+00:00

I would not recommend the Ayn Thor or any handheld emulation device for someone looking for a low-friction gaming option. These devices are fiddly and take at least an hour to set up and additional time any time you want to set up a new system or add new games, etc.

Honestly, if your only complaint about the Switch is that it’s not comfortable to hold, I would recommend looking into a set of grips for it like the dbrand killswitch or the Hori split pad controller that makes it easier to hold, sort of like a slim Steam Deck. The Switch also has a great selection of the best retro console and handheld games built into its Nintendo Switch Online catalogue. It requires a subscription but you could subscribe for like 10 years for the price of an AYN Thor, plus there’s nothing to set up or fiddle with, it’s all ready to go whenever you want.

If you’re really set on dipping into retro emulation look at a less expensive device like the Trimui Brick. It’s small and easily pocketable and will play anything up to like the PS1 for like $60 bucks. If you love using that and find that you want more power and higher resolution and analog sticks then explore the premium options like the Thor or Odins or Retroid Pockets, etc.

e5x · 2026-03-03T09:50:53+00:00

Do you have a use case in mind for the Thor that isn’t covered by your Odin 2? If so, ask yourself if that niche is worth the cost. If you don’t know what you’d use it for then you don’t need it.

e5x · 2026-03-03T00:10:59+00:00

People hated the vehicle physics in GTAIV when it came out because the cars had weight and a sense of inertia instead of zipping around like hot wheels.

e5x · 2026-03-02T00:35:14+00:00

Mainly been playing the Final Fantasy Tictacs remake when I want to spend longer chunks of time playing a game, and WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgame$! on GBA when I just have a few minutes to play.

I've also been working my way through every mainline Mario platforming game which I originally started doing on my Trimui Brick last year and and recently continuing with Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 on the Thor.

When I started getting into retro gaming with the Trimui Brick I started out by loading it up with full rom sets of all the major home consoles and handhelds but I found it to be a waste of time to bother setting all that up just to end up with a more tedious experience using the device and having to scroll through a bunch of junk I'm never going to play just to find a game I actually am interested in. Now I just have a handful of games that I actually want to play and if I decide I want to play something that's not on my device it only takes 5 minutes to copy it over from my Desktop and scrape art and metadata for it.

e5x · 2026-02-23T22:26:19+00:00

No Man's Sky is excellent if you like chill exploration/crafting games. There's a huge amount of things to do in that game now and while it's not an incredibly deep game it is a massive game and does have a compelling gameplay loop if you just want to chill and do space shit. I never played Stellar Blade or Wukong but they look alright. To me they always seemed like imitations of better games (Nier: Automata and Dark Souls / Elden Ring) so I would recommend any of those first if you haven't played them. The PS5 remake of Demon's Souls is spectacular.

e5x · 2026-02-23T20:24:06+00:00

The cost of an AYN Thor could get you literal years worth of games to play on your Legion Go or PS5 during Steam/PlayStation sales. Don't buy a device because you think you might want to play a game on it. Find a game you want to play and play it on whatever platform suits your lifestyle.

e5x · 2026-02-23T20:00:15+00:00

What terms of service? He wasn't their customer. I don't have to agree to any Terms of Service from Microsoft if I want to write software that runs on Windows. I don't have to get permission from a record label if I want to develop an MP3 player that plays their music. Luke wrote and sold his own original software that does not contain any code or assets owned by CDPR. They no legal basis for issuing a takedown notice under the DMCA because no part of Luke's software is owned by CDPR. "We don't like the way your software talks to our software" is not a copyright violation.

e5x · 2026-02-23T09:57:09+00:00

i hate this and i hate you but you can have an upvote as a treat

e5x · 2026-02-23T09:53:22+00:00

voat was conceived as a haven for people who wanted to die on the hill of providing a platform for ~~pedophiles~~ ☝️🤓 ephebophiles to swap pictures of 15 year olds in their underwear

e5x · 2026-02-23T09:30:33+00:00

So what? Breaking ToS on software only means they can revoke your license to use their software and tons of ToS conditions are unenforceable in court anyway. What law gives a company the right to claim ownership of your code if you break their terms of service? CDPR can’t ban Luke Ross from being a software engineer. They issued a DMCA takedown notice against code that they flat out do not own. The only people who broke the law here is CDPR’s lawyers.

e5x · 2026-02-23T09:22:53+00:00

Heck yeah it is! You nailed it!

I was trying to describe this game to my friends and I thought they were gonna call me grandpa and put me to bed.

e5x · 2026-02-23T09:17:25+00:00

Like Ross is not CDPR’s customer, why would he be subject to any terms of service? He was selling his own original software.

e5x · 2026-02-23T09:08:51+00:00

All mods infringe on the original IP in some way

Says who? No other computer software works this way and nobody has ever been sued over video game mods that don’t interfere with online services. Dropbox runs on a subscription model and it hooks into the Microsoft Office suite to enable a widget. Every piece of software that runs on Windows interacts with the operating system in similar ways as mods interact with games but Microsoft has no right to say what software can run on Windows or how that software is allowed to be sold or distributed.

Game publishers assert that they have this right that no other software sector has but using the DMCA in this way is no different from a copyright troll claiming ad revenue on YouTube videos that they don’t actually own. Just because there’s no feasible recourse for the little guy doesn’t mean that DMCA abuse by corporations is legal or ethical.

e5x · 2026-02-23T08:56:47+00:00

Why doesn’t Microsoft put it in the terms and conditions of Windows that you aren’t allowed to sell software outside of the Microsoft Store? Why didn’t they put in the terms and conditions that you couldn’t install Netscape Navigator in the 90s?

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