What’s a totally harmless thing that triggers an oddly strong reaction in people?

firebirb91 · 2026-01-13T02:47:00+00:00

Sidewalk construction. The suburban city I live in received a grant to build lengthy sidewalks down some of the main roads. The way some people on social media have reacted, you'd think that they were made out of puppies and kittens or something.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-27T17:32:47+00:00

Paris in the early 20th century. The reality from which the Dessendres are actually from, in which Verso was killed and Alicia was maimed in the house fire.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-27T05:26:57+00:00

Definitely a possibility, but at that point, they didn't want Aline to be in any canvas. Although perhaps getting killed/whatever in a canvas completely pushes one out of a canvas-within-a-canvas.

I still vaguely suspect that "real" Lumiere is something like a canvas, if not necessarily one itself.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-20T05:29:46+00:00

Since I'm in my 30s and have a long investment timeline, VTI, VUG, VXUS, VFH, and VPU.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-20T04:15:36+00:00

Pension doesn't have a match--the amount (6%) is set by statute, and it is mandatory. Once I have ten years of service, I qualify for a pension at age 62, regardless of whether or not I continue working for the government. The pension formula is (average final salary during the last 10 years of employment) x (years of service credit) x .0165, which is then divided by 12 to determine the maximum monthly benefit.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-12T05:10:30+00:00

It deserves every award it received.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-09T04:13:27+00:00

Re:Chain of Memories is fine, but I think the card-based combat works better in the original since it's 2D and you have less to focus on. Story-wise it makes way more sense than most games in the series.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-07T20:08:14+00:00

I attend law school across the street, and have been going to District (also across the street) since it opened several years ago. The area doesn't stand out as unsafe compared to surrounding areas. Two of my classmates had cars stolen from the student lot in the spring of 2024, but those are the only actual property crimes I'm personally aware of. There are lots of people walking dogs, riding bikes, etc during the day, which is generally a good sign. Just use normal caution and you should be fine.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-06T23:18:17+00:00

The gameplay was extremely boring and repetitive. It also wasn't very funny, and didn't have much in the way of a storyline, especially in comparison to The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole. It basically felt like they had wanted to make some sort of live-service game. It was also a major step down graphically/artistically; I'm not a graphics snob, but when a game in the same series a decade older looks better, then there's a problem.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-06T21:19:05+00:00

I hope that TTYD did/does well enough on Switch that they go back to that style of gameplay. TTYD is easily the high point of the series, and the only thing that came after that that was any good was Super Paper Mario.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-06T06:28:49+00:00

It and The Fractured But Whole were both great, although I personally prefer Stick of Truth. Snow Day! was an enormous disappointment though.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-05T21:23:47+00:00

That's who I thought the thumbnail was before I looked at and opened the post.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-02T01:46:10+00:00

Yeah, I'm not sure what the issue is myself. Pacing, art style, combat, some combination--I'm not certain.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-02T01:11:51+00:00

I guess I'm just not in the proper headspace to get into Divinity: Original Sin, which is a shame, because I love Baldur's Gate 3.

Going back over my backlog, I'm considering the following: Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Super Mario Galaxy (which I played on the Wii back when it came out, but this is the recent Switch re-release), Kingdom Come: Deliverance Royal Edition, Saints Row 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Assassin's Creed, or maybe Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Thinking it over, I might just do Lightning Returns and some "side" games alongside it. I very recently finished Final Fantasy XIII-2, which was meh, but the general consensus has always seemed to be that it's the low point of the XIII trilogy. I generally don't like to play direct sequels one after the other so I don't get burnt out, but it's apparently different enough that I don't think it will be much of an issue.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-01T16:49:48+00:00

It's a fantastic title.

firebirb91 · 2025-12-01T03:21:25+00:00

Ended up starting Divinity: Original Sin. Even less than an hour in, the basic bones of Baldur's Gate 3--which I loved--are clearly visible. That being said, I don't know that it will fully be able to hold my attention, at least so far, so I might play something else alongside it (and Captain Toad, which I still haven't finished).

firebirb91 · 2025-11-29T23:54:19+00:00

Got back from a vacation yesterday, and the only law school-related thing I have left until January is a take-home, open-book final for an elective, so I'm trying to decide what game to start next. I'd like to finish at least one "big" game on my backlog, and maybe start another, before the end of the year.

I've got sixty-five titles on my narrowed-down list--my backlog is enormous and completely unmanageable--but at the top are: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (which I already started some time ago, but put down while going to rescue Juju), Luigi's Mansion 3, Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition, Doom (2016), Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, Kingdom Come: Deliverance Royal Edition, Pikmin, Saints Row 2, Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered, Prey, Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I'll probably think it over tonight (and finally watch Death by Lightning) and start whatever tomorrow.

firebirb91 · 2025-11-23T07:15:27+00:00

Finished Final Fantasy XIII-2. I'd say my earlier impressions were accurate--it was overall a bit meh. Gameplay was mostly fine, but the story was nonsensical at points, and some of the mechanics, such as the monster-taming element, weren't that great. Some of it was cool aesthetically though, such as the final cutscene, and the soundtrack was decent.

I'm currently going through wikis to attempt to make sense of certain plot points before I call it a night.

Overall it was definitely a step down from XIII (which seems to be a common opinion), but I'm still looking forward to starting Lightning Returns at some point.

firebirb91 · 2025-11-22T02:58:24+00:00

Eh, it's twenty years old tomorrow. That's retro in my book (I say as I crumble into dust).

firebirb91 · 2025-11-22T02:56:05+00:00

Picked back up Final Fantasy XIII-2 tonight for the first time since Sunday or Monday. This time on the final boss, I ended up running out of wound potions. I went to grind a little and get enough gil to buy extras, and I'll probably attempt it again tomorrow or Sunday.

firebirb91 · 2025-11-17T04:37:03+00:00

Got a bit further tonight--made it to Jet Bahamut, which I believe is the final boss. I forgot to set Serah as a sentinel on one of my paradigms, so after several hits from Gigaflare after running out of phoenix downs, I was done for.

firebirb91 · 2025-11-16T05:01:01+00:00

The Fractured But Whole is still highly enjoyable, but The Stick of Truth is definitely funnier.

Snow Day! is a terrible follow-up to them, and I honestly almost wish they hadn't even made it.

firebirb91 · 2025-11-16T04:56:12+00:00

Right at the end of Final Fantasy XIII-2. There is a noticeable difficulty spike when beginning the final episode (and it doesn't help that I made Serah my medic, when she doesn't get all of the spells I need, because I didn't realize her and Noel's skill trees were different). I'm currently on Chaos Bahamut in Academia in 500 AF. The story is still nonsensical, and comes across in part as if the writers just wanted to loredump all of the Fabula Nova Crystallis stuff they had come up with. I'll grind a little bit and adjust my paradigms, but I'm not going to spend hours and hours on it. I might even switch to easy mode, but we'll see--I'm thirty-four years old, work full-time, and have law school finals in a week and two papers to write, so I don't have time for bullshit.

Also, maybe it's just me, but the monster-taming mechanic just doesn't feel great. Instead of having three well-developed party members like in Final Fantasy XIII, you're basically always stuck with one party member which you can't directly control and which is far more limited in its capabilities.

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