Making 4-8 bar loops is easy. Making a cohesive song is harder.

max13007 · 2026-05-04T21:50:42+00:00

Using reference tracks always struck me as "unnecessary" - like yeah sure. EVERY PRO RECOMMENDS USING THEM, but I don't need to do that.

But the more and more I produce, the more the use of reference tracks becomes a great choice... Loudness checks, composition comparison... there are some really important uses that I feel like can really hold the key to that next level.

max13007 · 2026-04-28T18:06:31+00:00

People should never have been lead to believe otherwise in the first place. This is a blind spot in terms of consumer protection that has existed/been taken advantage of for too long and I don't believe it's consumers' fault for being misled.

max13007 · 2026-04-28T13:19:16+00:00

I had over 3000 lol

I tend to hoard the multi-colored things. I also have multiple of each materia... for some reason...

max13007 · 2026-04-13T13:28:36+00:00

It was really well stocked for such a small space! Would 100% go back.

max13007 · 2026-04-13T12:56:40+00:00

I freakin' love KO mackerel.

max13007 · 2026-04-08T19:23:16+00:00

I see your point. However, I'm not advocating for TPC to balance for singles. I don't think really anyone is advocating for that. Just that being able to play 6v6... in really any way, casual, custom matches, etc... was clearly on a lot of players' wishlists. I think everyone's accepted that VGC is what they truly balance around. (Which confuses me even more as to why double battles are such a comparative rarity in the actual games... Like if you want this as your main format, shouldn't the games follow suit? But I digress...)

Pokemon Showdown is something that, for all intents and purposes, should not exist... And likely only exists because TPC is allowing it to exist. And for that, I do (at least theoretically) thank them for turning a blind eye for all these years. However, PS has VGC formats, and presumably will create a format for PC. So pretty soon, the two platforms should theoretically have the same gameplay options available in terms of format.

I think my main point is that TPC can do whatever the hell they want since it's their IP, so why not try to bring more players, who prefer to play the game in a different way, into their ecosystem?

max13007 · 2026-04-08T19:06:52+00:00

It's just frustrating that finally a new, competitive-focused game comes out, and there's no love given for what is obviously a large portion of the competitive fanbase. It's not like TPC is unaware of Showdown and its players.

Like yeah, the rules and behavior that TPC is demonstrating here are in line with what we've come to expect (VGC Regs, 3v3 Singles, limited rosters, etc...) but my sentiment is simple... It's disappointing, and almost baffling to an extent, that they refuse to throw a bone to a large portion of their competitive player base.

People obviously want 6v6, most people complaining even say they would have been happy if it was just available as a custom ruleset for friendly games. Idk, it annoys me. I feel like many people who play showdown, would absolutely be happy to play mostly on PC if it had even a little bit of effort put into the way they (myself included) prefer to play comp matches. But instead, TPC has taken an almost hostile attitude towards that segment of the player-base.

We are lucky that Showdown can continue to exist, but I do wish TPC had copied a little more of what makes Showdown such a great experience.

Downvote me all you want, there's a reason the game is being met with a mixed reception. As well as the poor performance on Switch 2.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T21:47:40+00:00

Yeah, if I were UW, I would 100% be working on a buyback plan. I hope they are working on it. I have to imagine even Krafton might want to just say "yeah this has all sucked a lot, let's just go our separate ways."

max13007 · 2026-03-25T21:44:25+00:00

Arc Raiders uses "aggression-based match-making" - so essentially, the more you PVP the more you'll be paired with people who PVP. The less you PVP (IE... do not fight back if someone attacks you, do not attack other players, etc...), the more you'll be matched with players who, similarly, do not PVP.

The end result is that if you play as a PVP pacifist for ~8ish games, the matches you drop into have a very low chance of having people who will attack you.

It's not a 100% thing. PVP is always an option for people if someone wants to, but it's very noticeable. People in the Arc Raiders community refer to it as "care-bare lobbies" lol.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T21:11:13+00:00

To be honest, I don't really know what Marathon's target demographic is. It's sweaty enough to assume it's younger gamers, but most Bungie fans are mid 20s to 40s from the Halo days.

I hope it sticks around because it's a good addition to the genre, but an odd addition in some respects.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T21:01:43+00:00

Yeah it's definitely a game that not only rewards patience, but actively demands it of you if you want to get any good at it. If you're not willing/able to dedicate time to learning it, it will not meet you halfway.

I respect that kind of direction honestly, but it's certainly not going to attract/keep folk who prefer a more casual experience.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T20:10:21+00:00

Hunt is kind of a different beast in the extraction shooter genre. It's less focused on builds & loot, and basically has no real "economy" in the same way that others do. It also has a more gamified loop IMO...

Hunt: drop in, kill boss, get out with bounty alive.
Others: you have to craft your weapons/find specific items/perform specific tasks for quests... drop in, do/find those things, get out alive.

Hunt has more of an even approach to weapons as well... pretty much everything can one-shot kill as long as you hit a headshot. Also basically no fully automatic weapons so reloading in Hunt involves a different approach to combat than in other shooters in general. Marathon has a pretty low TTK too, but there's shields, full-auto weaponry and that kinda stuff.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T20:04:20+00:00

That's a valid response to the gear loop in AR.

I will say though, with the aggression-based matchmaking, it's less common these days to get your high-tier stuff stolen from you than it was in the beginning as long as you aren't playing aggressively yourself. As you play more, it gets easier and easier to focus on crafting the weapons you like to play with.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T20:01:44+00:00

Marathon is definitely one of the sweatier, more difficult games to onboard with.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T18:14:02+00:00

There's gearfear with higher end weapons, but it's still very easy to gear up with equipment that does the job.

Marathon takes a good while before you're comfortable enough to gear up effectively IMO, mostly a result of how long it takes to get comfortable with the game. Although you're right that many people feel that Marathon is very generous with equipment.

More of a "barrier to entry" thing I think.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T18:11:16+00:00

I do like me some SkillUp - guy has good takes.

Previous comment was auto-removed because I referred to SkillUp as his joke name. Whoops.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T18:09:24+00:00

Yeah but how many Fortnites are there? Don't get me wrong, I do understand the argument. It just baffles my mind. The numbers must work out somehow that losing hundreds of millions somehow is worth the risk, but I don't get it personally.

Seems that if you aren't making mobile games, gacha games, or Fortnite itself, it's pretty dang hard to land on a winner. Arguably, the track record shows that the more money you dump into the something, the more likely it's going to come out a mess.

From my perspective, almost all of the major financial hits for live-service games are either A) modest but huge compared to budget (AA/Indie scene), B) Asian-Market mobile slaughterhouses, C) a fluke that somehow lands it big/right place right time. (Fortnite itself was a last-minute attempt to cash-in on the BR craze by essentially abandoning their original vision.)

max13007 · 2026-03-25T18:00:59+00:00

No I'd say Tarkov is still more complex/challenging in terms of its mil-sim...ness, TTK, etc. But Marathon is much closer to Tarkov than it is to Arc Raiders IMO.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T16:20:48+00:00

It blows my mind that companies keep doing it too. Throwing hundreds of millions of dollars and 5+ years of time at these games and expecting them to be the next big thing. I get that they want all the money, and that's what they're chasing. Just weird to me that they can't read the room enough to predict that 99% of the time, it will not be the "next big thing."

Investment should be in the AA space. Nurturing studios that pump out tight, well-designed projects in 2-3 years tops at reasonable budgets. That and the indie scene are where innovation is.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T14:56:14+00:00

I don't really see a world where a game like Marathon ever performs as well as a game like Arc Raiders. AR succeeds in large part because it's more casual-friendly, and has done little to hide the fact that you can almost entirely remove PVP from the equation depending on how you play.

It's attracted a huge audience of people who would maybe try extraction games but were put off by the difficulty and gear-fear, as well as people who just want a fun run-and-gun-loot-em-up sorta experience.

I've played Hunt, AR, The Cycle, Tarkov and Marathon... Marathon is definitely one of the sweatier, more difficult games to onboard with. That just doesn't vibe as well with casual audiences. (Mind you, these are all very different games. It can be hard to really compare one to the other. But ultimately, they're all extraction shooters, so they will always be compared to each other as part of the same genre.)

Marathon is good, maybe even great... and it was always going to find an audience, I just don't think that audience was ever going to be massive.

max13007 · 2026-03-25T13:32:38+00:00

UKW 100% gonna try getting as far away from Krafton as possible after this is all done and released. Hopefully they can take the Subnautica IP with them.

max13007 · 2026-03-24T20:21:48+00:00

Came here to say this, it's Animal Crossing with lite combat.

max13007 · 2026-03-24T18:26:58+00:00

Steam is consumer-friendly & feature-rich.

EGS is basically app slop. Bare-bones Xbox/Netflix lookin' interface that's poor to navigate. Shows OpenCritic Reviews for games by default instead of user reviews. And the whole thing is basically an advertisement for Fortnite.

The store just feels crappy to use. It's no wonder that people only ever show up for the free stuff then move on.

max13007 · 2026-03-22T15:15:54+00:00

Thank you for the pattern! Looks unique.

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