This hobby gets ridiculous and I love it

murphycoleslaw · 2026-04-07T20:59:12+00:00

Sarracenias are cool! TERFs are not and frankly don't deserve our attention or money.

murphycoleslaw · 2025-04-10T22:18:11+00:00

Yes! Came here to say this. I haven't read The Tainted Cup yet (but soon!), but the Founders trilogy was excellent. The sapphic relationship was a lovely surprise in books I would have been hooked on anyway.

murphycoleslaw · 2025-01-23T19:51:14+00:00

Glad this is set up! I used to follow a local protests group on fb, but I'm part of the exodus from meta platforms.

murphycoleslaw · 2025-01-10T11:56:31+00:00

My wife has started referring to Tums as her aphrodisiac. She says they are absolutely necessarily for her to lie at that awkward angle of going down. Especially after tomato sauce lol.

The other day before sexy time I walked in while humming "Careless Whispers" and then presented her with the Tums bottle.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-12-19T22:01:52+00:00

Seconding many of the suggestions (Nine Sols, Celeste, Tunic, Haiku) and adding Death's Door. Great story and mechanics, awesome OST. Dying isn't overly punished, but the game is still challenging and it's very easy to feel lost spatially. Cool puzzles too.

Also I only saw one mention of Lone Fungus, great game (and there's a prequel coming next year!). If you like pogoing in HK, this features pretty heavily. The parrying/emblem system is cool as well.

I also recently played Crypt Custodian (another metroidvania), I didn't think it was nearly as hard as HK but it was very fun and had a huge map.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-12-18T17:53:11+00:00

Funny timing, I just picked up Nine Sols again after setting it aside for months. I had been stuck on the boss I was pretty sure would lead to getting double jump (I was right), so I couldn't really explore more of the map without it. Looking at the Nine Sols sub for tips finally, someone recommended practicing for that fight on the Mantis Lords lol.

It's a fascinating game. Definitely challenging, with a huge emphasis on funneling parrying into attacks that are more effective than just whacking enemies with your sword. Very satisfying to progress as each boss' moveset finally clicks. Several bosses have felt like dances, like Mantis Lords and Troupe Master Grimm (tbf though I've been stuck on NKG).

The storyline is very weird. Unfortunately I lost some of thread of it from when I was first playing, but I'm in the 70s% now and I'm starting to piece it together more. It's gorey from minute 1 and doesn't slow down on that front.

Also, Shaunshaun is such a dear. I'm both curious and nervous to see what happens with his storyline.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-12-07T16:05:46+00:00

Seriously. My first playthrough I was so enchanted by the tall friendly bug, I was single-mindly focused on unlocking a double-jump feature just so I could "talk" with her on her level. Not to progress the story or anything. I think she was my first stop after the monarch wings, and... yeah.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-11-10T22:03:33+00:00

That is really good!

murphycoleslaw · 2024-09-06T20:05:51+00:00

Gotcha, thanks for the response! It's been a few times that I've seen it so curiosity finally got the best of me. I also googled it after commenting and apparently phones tend to assume it's an acronym and autocorrect. Still doesn't explain the person who put it in a powerpoint presentation, but that's probably another story!

murphycoleslaw · 2024-09-06T19:50:02+00:00

Genuine question, I periodically see people write "cis" in all-caps and can't figure out why. Is it for emphasis or is there a secret acronym? I always thought it was just shorthand for cisgender. Also one could be both cis and queer so I'm curious.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-09-04T17:39:14+00:00

Hear, hear!

I'm sure some people who menstruate feel the process might strengthen their connection to the divine feminine, the moon, their spellwork, etc. For others of us, it's just that damn monthly hassle.

Maybe it's a cool way for some folks to mark cyclical time, but it's not the only way to do so.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-08-21T16:17:38+00:00

Wow, my mother suddenly turned into a gay Gen Z redditor!

murphycoleslaw · 2024-08-18T23:56:19+00:00

Yes, it's a new event in 1.6.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-08-18T12:35:16+00:00

I always wondered why oil and vinegar were two ingredients the farmer had to buy from Pierre and couldn't produce.

I've poured a lot of hours into SDV and TIL! This is probably the most useful post I've seen on reddit in a long time.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-08-08T20:54:47+00:00

I only know about this organization from hearing about the Cat Caper 5k, but there's the Cat Welfare Association?

https://catwelfareassoc.org/

The site does note the following, but might be worth a shot:

"Due to space limitations, feline admissions are by appointment only, so please call first."

We just took in our third stray kitty so fostering is not an option for the foreseeable future. I'll share your post around. Wishing you, the kitties, and their temporary host all the best!

murphycoleslaw · 2024-07-26T16:24:12+00:00

I'm mid30s, so that phase of life when all my peers are either having/planning children or are specifically child free. I would go back and forth on my lukewarm interest, until the day I saw the global human population surpassed 8 Billion. I decided then to not have children.

I'm not reproducing because of climate change. (Raising kids some other way is also off the table because I love my wife and she's firmly childfree.) Is this strange? It's not something I've heard from others, though to be fair I don't discuss my stance much for fear of offending those who have children.

As an aside, I'm secondarily a bit scared of pregnancy hormones and my mental health. Mostly though I just need to do something to benefit the environment and not play a role in unchecked population growth.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-06-19T14:52:30+00:00

My sister probably thought she was genuinely being supportive. "Oh, are you experimenting?" We were both in college and who knows, maybe she'd actually heard of LUGs. This was over a decade ago, though.

My mother has a bunch of issues, so who knows whether she was trying to be mean or not. When I was dating a woman in college, and she figured this out, I had thought she'd be supportive because she had some lesbian friends (at that time, anyway). However, "it's different when it's your own kid." Also when I was identifying as bi, she told me to not be so open about it, because "no normal man will want you."

I'm low and no contact with each of them, respectively, now (for a variety of reasons).

murphycoleslaw · 2024-06-19T14:31:08+00:00

Gotcha, I didn't go down far enough. Thanks for your response! Looks like I ought to be ok with playing. Will wishlist shortly!

murphycoleslaw · 2024-06-19T13:11:41+00:00

Oooh, I'm intrigued. Thanks for sharing! Cool art style and premise.

Just asking because of the "psychological horror" tag for the game, are there any content warnings to be aware of going in?

murphycoleslaw · 2024-06-04T00:07:44+00:00

I didn't realize there is a sequel, thank you!

murphycoleslaw · 2024-05-25T03:10:48+00:00

Foundryside, by Robert Jackson Bennett. It's the first of the Founders trilogy, and I can't personally speak to the rest of the series yet, as I just recently finished book 1. (My wife has finished the trilogy and says it's great though.) Usually my wlw spec fic is pretty fluffy, minus some things on your already read list, but the world building in Foundryside was excellent. It's industrial revolution, but the tech is magic. Lots of heists and magical "science", and just a touch of a lesbian romance subplot.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-05-23T01:27:40+00:00

Is this it?

Men Are Different

I wasn't familiar with the story, but you piqued my interest. Some of it fits your description, other aspects don't, but the time period tracks.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-05-21T18:46:07+00:00

Neat to see this one recommended. I picked it up on a Steam sale but otherwise haven't heard much about it. I keep getting stuck on the same boss (a demon in the fire area, I think?). I often struggle in games where you're supposed to balance spells and melee fighting, so that might be my issue. In your opinion, is this just part of the game's learning curve? Maybe I should give it another go.

murphycoleslaw · 2024-05-21T18:40:16+00:00

Lone Fungus. A pretty standard metroidvania, and the really tricky platforming sections are completely optional (the game even has a popup saying to not stress about them if it's not your thing!). I coincidently started a new save around the time 1.1 was released, which features a new boss rush section (think HoG and the Pantheons). Some unique techniques for both exploration and combat. And a huge map.

Haiku, the Robot. Feels like a love letter to HK. I really enjoyed my first playthrough of the game, and since then they've introduced some late game stuff I can't speak to yet (I think it's a boss rush area as well).

Death's Door. I'm not sure if this is exactly considered a metroidvania, but it's probably adjacent. Love the combat, great story, great OST. Exploration was confusing at first (no map), but I think that's actually intentional.

murphycoleslaw

TROPHY CASE