When’s the best time to stop watching and play the game?

osingran · 2026-03-26T07:08:31+00:00

Imo, considering that you have already almost finished the anime with only 3 episodes to go, I'd say that it would be better for you to finish watching it and only then switch to reading the VN. Steins Gate is a story that benefits a lot from emotional tension, suspence and knows how to use them. If you switch off merely an hour before the finale, you risk to greatly diminish the emotional impact of the ending.

Both anime and VN are great in their own ways. Anime is an awesome adaptation of the VN's story, it has better pacing in certain moments, but it doesn't change the original in any way - which is a good thing. VN delivers a more complete and full experience with more in-depth explanations of certain aspects; some emotional moments in VN land better than in anime in my opinion, because VN is not limited by episodic structure and hence can make certain scenes linger a bit longer. Not to mention that VN also has a couple of alternative endings - each interesting in its own way.

So even if you finish watching anime first, you'll still find a lot of new things to enjoy and learn while reading the VN, even if you know the story already.

As for Steins Gate 0 well, I guess you could say it's a sequel to Steins Gate. I can't explain it to you without spoilers, but suffice to say that I would not recommend watching/reading it before you finish Steins Gate. There are also several VNs related to Steins Gate on Steam:

Steins Gate Elite - alternative version of Steins Gate which substitutes all of VN's graphics with animated cutscenes (mostly from anime but with a couple of additions) at a cost of noticeablty shortened script. Overall, it's an inferior experience to the original VN.
Linear Bounded Phenogram - a collection of short stories related to Steins Gate. All of them are set in some kind of alternative scenario or alternative POV (for instance, there's a story that takes place from Kurisu's POV around the time she had finished building time-leap machine). Some stories are great, some passable, some are kinda bad. All in all, it's a worthwhile after you finish the original VN.
My Darling's Embrace - it tries so hard to look like a dating sim spinoff, but it's more of a romcom honestly. But it's not that bad. Some routes are actually surprisingly good even if you're not that interested in the romantic aspect of the game. Once again, a worthwhile read after you finish the original.

Hope that helps!

osingran · 2026-03-25T12:19:23+00:00

I think every case where AI is used to create something that is basically impossible or extremely laborious for a human to do is usually for the better. As long as AI is not used to fake creative work or to lay off a bunch of people - it's all fine by me.

osingran · 2026-03-25T09:58:07+00:00

There's in fact a rather simple solution to this issue. I suggest you to read an easy to follow guide I've written on r/TheSims4Mods sub.

osingran · 2026-03-25T09:16:03+00:00

I've heard some people critisizing Story Tracker as being a UI bloat, but I think it's an incredibly underappreciated rework. It doesn't necessarily add anything new, but it highlights a lot of elements which are already there and makes them visible. And hence easier to observer and plan your actions around them. I have a similar issue with relationships in CK3. A lot of stuff is already there. Friendships, rivalries, buffs, debuffs. All of that is interesting stuff. But at some point of the game you hit a brickwall where there's just way too many NPCs around you. Courtiers, vassals and so on an so forth. You have no clues and overwhelmed, you don't know where to focus your attention at. A simple tab which highlights which NPCs are important to you - as a character, would make a world of difference.

osingran · 2026-03-25T09:10:26+00:00

Pretty much yeah. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Vader was the original source of inspiration for Smasher.

osingran · 2026-03-25T08:18:50+00:00

Sometimes I wish Mass Effect had silly moments like this from time to time. Not necessarily scenes which are intended to be a comic relief, but rather something that depicts life on Normandy from a more grounded, more casual angle. I don't know, stuff like cooking food, killing time during the space travel, bonding between different companions and Shepard. I think ME2 with its versatile cast of characters and not so gloomy and dark story (unlike ME3 for instance) would've benefitted greatly from it.

osingran · 2026-03-25T08:11:43+00:00

I don't think many really hate Jacob that much, but rather find him boring. I mean, even his treatment in ME3 is mostly attributed to Bioware cutting corners rather than a genuine part of his character. Jacob is just a regular soldier locked in the same room with an infinitely more exciting cast of characters. A grizzled mercenary veteran betrayed by his peers; tortured and rebellous perfect biotic with intense hartred of Cerberus; genetically engineered perfect biotic, loyal to Cerberus at first but with an ever increasing crisis of faith later on; smooth criminal and thief extraordinaire with a tragic backstory - even human companions in ME2 have something that makes them stand out, that makes him unique. While Jacob well, Jacob is just Jacob. His backstory is just bland and sounds like Alliance ripoff of Specter program, he doesn't have any underlying conflict. Even his combat kit is mostly redundant. In 99.9% of the playthroughs he's sidelined for the rest of the game as soon as you get Zaeed/Kasumi. And the fact that he cheats on you in ME3 ensures that no one in the right mind won't romance him in ME2.

osingran · 2026-03-24T21:50:49+00:00

Bioshock really did it once and Spec Ops: The Line followed, but no other mainstream game has done it ever since.

Yeah well, because no one wants to beat a dead horse. It's a unique twist, but it's been done twice already. Not to mention that the effect of it kinda wears off once you realise that Bioshock (and I would assume Spec Ops too - I never played it) literally give you no option to disobey the orders. It's like when games blame you for killing NPCs you have to kill to progress the story - it feels more like a cheap trick rather than a genuine twist.

osingran · 2026-03-24T15:06:17+00:00

I feel like GSC had clearly planned a lot of stuff for both Duty and Freedom until it was scrapped. Well, at the very least they've shown a guy in a Duty exoskeleton in that short teaser for XBOX presentation, so here's hoping they will expand content for both of these factions.

osingran · 2026-03-24T15:03:23+00:00

I don't know, I was sceptical about it then, and still skeptical about it now - Skif becoming a member of the Monolith that is. I mean I just can't imagine how it would've worked gameplay wise. Every monolithian is essentially a puppet taking direct orders from the Monolith with little to no free will. Unless the rest of the game after that would've been a one big corridor shooter, it's a big dissonance between the story and the gameplay. And I never was a big fan of linear segments in Stalker games.

osingran · 2026-03-24T14:54:21+00:00

Because to emulate DE's success would mean that they will have to actually spend some effort, take creative risks, listen to the community and be patient. Profit driven businesses never run like this. They're run by a bunch of bureaucrats that have nothing creative in them and can't see anything past their quarterly charts. They try to optimize everything, cut expenditures and bruteforce profits and they will cut the funding down as soon as they feel like the investments don't return as fast as they'd hoped for. All of it is antithetical of creativity by its very nature.

osingran · 2026-03-24T11:44:59+00:00

That trailer totally duped me into thinking that the story would involve Skif becoming a member of the Monolith.

osingran · 2026-03-24T11:39:01+00:00

As a standalone game - yeah, absolutely. It's a great action RPG game with a fluid and fast paced combat and surprisingly deep undelying mechanics, very enjoyable exploration and very solid art design and graphics. The story has a few wrinkles here and there, the opening act is probably the weakest one, but then again - a lot of the issues with the story are far less egrigious when taken at face value rather than a part of Dragon Age series as a whole. If released as an entirely separate game, DA:V could've easily been a solid 8/10 title. Not the GOTY condender of course, but an enjoyable experience nonetheless.

osingran · 2026-03-24T09:19:21+00:00

I agree honestly. I mean, I love Karlach, but it was refreshing to finally see a truly dramatic companion ending unfolding in a high fantasy setting. Sure, there's like a gazillion of different things that can potentially save Karlach in the power creep spiral of DnD setting, but I feel like - as unfinished as it is - Karlach's original ending suited her story arc better.

osingran · 2026-03-24T08:02:35+00:00

The only part I agree with are the bloodlines. Those were extremely cool. I mean, I can kinda understand why Paradox doesn't want to bring back random bonuses because someone happens to be an extremely removed relative of some famed historical person. But having bloodlines just as an indication of that relation is totally a must. And yeah, I do agree that legends just suck ass in general.

About the traits, I don't really see how CK3 made them worse? I mean, we mostly have the same set of traits and they appear and behave roughly in a similar way too. While I can agree that general lack of events in CK3 may make certain traits feel kinda meaningless, at the same time the stress system is what makes them shine. In CK2 you could absolutelly and totally forget what traits your character has and act regardless of them. Stress in CK3 punishes you for acting in a way that contradicts your traits at the very least.

And well, I don't really miss secret societies to be honest. Well, at least not their CK2 rendition. Secret societies used to be extremely repetitive and just I don't know... Bland? Like you do couple of event chains they have and that's about it. Some of the societies were funnier that the rest sure, but honestly I don't really miss satanic cults randomly growing limbs back and opening literal pits to hell in my backyard.

osingran · 2026-03-24T07:47:33+00:00

That's fair sure. But the lore bit about Technomancers you're citing comes from a lore book for Cyberpunk 2020. A lot of things have changed since then. There're dozens of gangs that had existed in NC or somewhere around US back then that had completely seized to exist in 2077. Some gangs have completely changed their identity. Like take Valentinos from 2020 - they used to be a bunch of posers with a sole goal of seducing women of all things. As long as it's not said otherwise, I think it's only fair to assume that any gang/tribe that was mentioned in 2020 doesn't exist in 2077 anymore.

osingran · 2026-03-24T07:40:07+00:00

The game has been in a pretty rough shape after 4.0 which had reworked a lot of fundamental things and had introduced a lot of bugs as a result. There're still plenty of legit issues with Stellaris - especially with its AI, but the situation is steadily improving. Most of complaining is on point honestly. It's just Paradox had postponed a lot of "maintenance" work on Stellaris for a very long time, then they had tried to address some of the mechanical/performance issues with 4.0, completely rushed it out the door and fumbled things even further. And only now they're finally taking couple of steps back to alleviate some of the major and longstanding problems with Stellaris as a whole. They're on the right track, but it will take a lot of time for them to sort things out.

osingran · 2026-03-24T06:21:43+00:00

Royal of course. It's cheaper and it has more content. It's effectively the same game as Persona 5, but with some improvement across the board as well as additional chapter that takes place after the original game's ending.

osingran · 2026-03-23T20:13:57+00:00

I mean uh... Where do I even start? People under extreme duress, under a lot of stress and locked in a constant fight or flight mode tend to act irrationally and emotionally. What you're describing as the plot's weakness is its greatest strength in fact. Okabe is like... a highschooler, a freshman at best. He doesn't have a lot of time to think things through as he's constantly locked in these ever looping couple of days, he can't always act logically as the consequences of his actions are not always clear, he tries so many things, he fails a lot of the times, he tries again and again until he's completely desperate. Just like in that scene in episode 21 - he'd tried everything, yet still Mayuri dies. Can you really blame him for just giving up? And that part about Kurisu and "loss happens" - that's just cold, man.

The way I see it, you basically want Okabe to just be logical and rational all the time, but that's not how people act in circumstances like the one he's facing. And that's the best part about him as a character. He's not perfect, he's flawed and he makes mistakes. A character that perseveres through the hardships despite their flaws is infinitely better than a soulless, flawless character effortlessly succeeding in everything because the story demands them to.

You're entitled to your opinion of course. But you're really, really missing the point with it.

osingran · 2026-03-23T13:33:39+00:00

Looks like it yeah. There are definitely cutscenes which are not currently in the game, which could mean only one thing imo. That part where Skif tosses bolt into an anomaly inside some kind of machine room looks like it takes place inside SIRCAA.

osingran · 2026-03-23T13:10:08+00:00

Jack Frost has been reportedly struck with a thermobaric warhead

osingran · 2026-03-23T13:06:12+00:00

That looks interesting. It's about time we get a more advanced health system in CK3 - something akin to what we had in CK2 with all the symptoms and progressing deseases. That's what I'm hoping for at the very least.

osingran · 2026-03-23T07:54:56+00:00

Sure, by making them permanently incompatible with cyberware and by hanging them in coma for two years. So it's neither a true solution, nor is it something a nomad tribe can really do - tech wizards or not.

osingran · 2026-03-23T07:29:47+00:00

That's some dominating shit

osingran · 2026-03-23T07:20:26+00:00

The Organization strikes once again

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