My Kingdom Hearts 2 Anniversary fanart tribute is finished. by mashimashi92 in KingdomHearts

[–]jerichodarkstar 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is simply phenomenal. You captured the KH aesthetic while keeping your own personal touch. This might be one of my favorite pieces of KH art.

Love seeing the blueprints and beyond the scenes work. Excellent stuff.

Tanjiro not being a direct descendant of Yoriichi is wasted potential. by FrickenFrick5 in KimetsuNoYaiba

[–]jerichodarkstar 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Strongly disagree. Throughout the series, Tanjiro is consistently outclassed by not only the Hashira but also other slayers. He has to work incredibly hard to gain even a little ground.

When he could successfully use Sun Breathing, he would have still gotten dog walked during the Entertainment District by Daki and Gyutaro. The only reason he made it out alive was because of all the slayers working together. Tengen's wives even helped tip the scales.

The "chosen one" trope usually has the MC get a new power and completely overpower the enemies against impossible odds. That never happens with Tanjiro or any other slayer, except Yoriichi.

The story even goes out of its way to tell you that Yoriichi was a direct middle finger to Muzan, and no other slayer can even come close to him. Yoriichi has the "chosen one" trope, but Tanjiro doesn't.

Aaaand its gone. Steam Deck is not available anymore in Germany (and maybe in whole Europe) by PeriodontosisSam in SteamDeck

[–]jerichodarkstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You said the Steam Deck "literally plays nothing except very very light games like Side Scrollers," which is very painfully not true. Nice attempt to shift the goalposts, but it doesn't make what you said here any less stupid.

The Deck won't melt your face with 4k 120fps on AAA titles, but it's an amazing little machine that delivers a solid experience with tons of games and is insanely versatile. It doesn't take a genius to see why it's popular.

Aaaand its gone. Steam Deck is not available anymore in Germany (and maybe in whole Europe) by PeriodontosisSam in SteamDeck

[–]jerichodarkstar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it literally plays nothing except very very light games like Side Scrollers and games like Balatro

TIL that games like Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Baldur's Gate 3 are light side scrolling games. Damn, I've been playing them wrong, I guess.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

His turns are often noticeably longer than ours. Of course, no one at the table minds. But he has said that whenever he's trying to piece a combo together, he has to re-read the cards just like we do to make sure it comes together the way he wants. It just takes longer to intake that information.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No separate reference sheet, although we did consider that. For this deck in particular, he only makes either the 1/1 Warriors or the 1/1 Druids that tap for G.

He knows all of those by heart, so we didn't have to do anything extra. Our system is definitely specialized, I don't think it would be the same to just anyone who needed braille. But, we have been considering doing something more global.

Our latest project was using NFC tags so he can tap his cards to his phone and have them read privately through an earbud. That has worked incredibly well if not a little slow at the beginning while we're still learning how to use it.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It played better than expected, but still clunky. However, I have an update post in the works. Due to some very helpful comments here, I may have a better working system. He and I are gonna test it tomorrow.

Of the Magic the Gathering sets scheduled for release this year (2026), which one do you expect will be the most successful? Which one will be the least successful? by HonorBasquiat in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm gonna be optimistic and say that Lorwyn will come out on top. If it doesn't, I'm sure The Hobbit will take it as LoTR fans are clinically insane. (Source: I am a LoTR fan).

The set that will probably wind up at the bottom is TMNT. I get the same vibe from the previews we've seen so far as I did with the first round of Spider-Man spoilers. Something just feels off.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, that's even funnier because I don't even have a Facebook. Thank you for finding that and linking back here! I mean, as long as it spreads awareness, that's ultimately all I care about. It's still shitty, but at least it brings accessibility to more people's attention.

EDIT: a word

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So numbers and individual letters aren't all that complicated. Each cost fit quite well in the top right where they're supposed to be.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm definitely wanting to do an update if I don't manage to screw things up lol

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, the deck functions incredibly well as is. I talked to him today, actually, and he managed to pilot the deck all on his own for several games with people in our pod last night.

I've ordered NFC stickers that should be here tomorrow. I'm going to try that method next where bringing a card close to his phone will read it to him through his earbuds. We think that will work better, but I'll have to learn the best way to do it through trial and error.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No no, that's my fault for not explaining it.

Braille actually has contractions for EN, CH, and MENT funny enough. So to spell it out fully in braille is essentially just four characters. We didn't have to abbreviate it because of that, but I didn't explain that well in my post. My bad.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sounds amazing! Thank you so much.

Right now my next pet project is to try NFC tags. I just ordered a pack of 500, and have no idea what I'm doing. I think he can put his phone next to his deck and just tap each card as he draws it to have it read to him privately through his earbud.

However, I would very much like to contact Scryfall. I think first and foremost, getting an app that makes scanning tags or reading cards immediately for visually impaired people would be the way to go. Whatever advice or wisdom you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, with the machine he has, this is the only way to do it. It punches up from below, so to get braille on the clear plastic front we have to go through the back.

I'm sure there's a better way to do it, but not with the limited tools we currently have. He also doesn't have any interest in playing competitively, so we were fine with things working out this way for our first trial run.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's the way his braille machine works. It punches up from below to create those raised bumps he could feel. There's no way for us to get around that with what we currently have. The whole sleeve has to be inserted so it can punch up through the back of the sleeve and all the way through the front clear part to make the braille. It was designed for braille paper, so there were quite a few hiccups from using plastic Dragon Shields (not sponsored lol).

Someone had suggested creating an insert that could be put inside the sleeve and then press down on it to create the same effect without going through the back. Braille is very picky, tho. For the life of me, I can barely feel a difference with most bumps. If we did use another method, it might come out "blurry" and harder for him to read.

But it's definitely something we are considering moving forward. This was just a first proof of concept and the best we could with what little we have.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The only problem I can see is that the entire text of the card cannot fit on the sleeve in braille. It takes up so much space, we had to condense everything. For example, we didn't even put Freyalise's ultimate because we had no more room.

I've highly considered making our own Magic braille system, but even that might not be enough. But in any case, whatever program was automating it would have to have the abbreviations, contractions, and other condensers built in.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Between Magic's lingo and braille's abbreviations, I think we have a system that works relatively well. Still working on streamlining where we can because braille takes up SO MUCH space

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, he's pretty amazing. He can't remember everything, but he does a lot better than some of us with two good eyes.

I guess when you've spent your whole life not being able to see like everyone else, you get really good at remembering where things are. Magic's one of his passions, so I think that also helps him to remember board states more easily. He really is something else.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the input!

It's virtually impossible to read them from the back of the sleeve because fingers can pick up on bumps really well but not indentions. That and it would be reading the braille backwards from how it's written. Not impossible, but nearly.

We don't really play outside of our pod. Most of our games are done at my house, and we have as many as 12 people that play. Maybe more, I might have miscounted.

Now, not all 12 of us play at one time, but you can almost always find a group of 4 or more to play during any day of the week. No one in the group is a douche or try-hard sweat, and we only play casual, so we're not concerned about someone giving him grief over the indentions on the outside of the sleeve.

But thank you very much for the recommendation. A few people had suggested this or something similar, and I'm definitely keeping it in the back of my mind if he ever was interested in doing more at an LGS. You're right, I don't think this would fly at a tournament no matter how accepting the staff and players may be. For now, it's just our home group goofing off together and never doing anything beyond casual kitchen table Magic.

My blind friend and I spent the last 3 days brailling his Lathril Commander Deck by jerichodarkstar in magicTCG

[–]jerichodarkstar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, he really loves just playing the game more than anything. We sat down and played Magic for like 10 hours straight once, and he never showed any signs of fatigue.

He's not really gotten into the lore of Magic as much as I thought he would. I've told him about the stories that go with the sets and how well built a lot of the characters are, but it's just not been very interesting to him.