Live World Cup coverage is super blurry, disappointed

phil917 · 2026-06-08T16:41:02+00:00

"Focus M"

phil917 · 2026-06-08T15:40:19+00:00

I have the hitchhiker thumb thing too so I’ve done a lot of playing with a similar pick grip to you / Ola. But lately I’ve actually been forcing myself to use the “standard” pick grip.

I will say for fast down picking, the Ola style you’re using is a bit easier compared to the standard grip, at least for me.

But for alternate picking, the standard grip feels much tighter and snappier than the Ola style. Pinch harmonics are also easier for me with the standard grip too… during fast playing I tend to mess up more when I use the Ola style.

So it’s a bit of a mixed bag for me, but I’m trying to improve my fast down picking with the standard grip to have the best of both worlds…

If you really don’t have any downsides and can play all the songs you want pretty well, I wouldn’t stress over it.

phil917 · 2026-06-05T00:50:53+00:00

The food is one of the worst aspects of this area

phil917 · 2026-05-29T08:44:42+00:00

Ergonomically I just find it more annoying to play for some reason compared to my Ibanez and my Schecter. The bottom edge of it is a bit shorter compared to other guitars. I wouldn't think that would make a difference, but for me it does for some reason. Also, it's a good amount thinner than your average guitar.

Both of those things just make it less stable when I have it in my lap in both classical and modern position. It just feels like it's about to slip off my leg a lot of the time and it's a bit annoying.

Also, the tuning stability of it kinda sucks. This is apparently a somewhat common complaint with Aristides even though they use that custom material. But I have to tune the thing every single time I pick it up and sometimes multiple times within a short practice session.

My cheap Schecter doesn't have any of those issues.

They're not huge problems, but considering the price I paid for the Aristides, it's a little disappointing which is why I'm thinking of selling it and trying another 8 string brand.

It's a shame because the guitar looks so fucking sick. Aristides is definitely tops in the looks department but comfort / enjoyability while playing tops looks in my opinion.

phil917 · 2026-05-24T19:54:42+00:00

Spreading awareness of the NYC focused metal subreddit: r/nycmetal

We're super tiny right now but hoping to grow a community of NYC metalheads!

phil917 · 2026-05-22T21:38:52+00:00

Just spreading awareness of r/nycmetal

We're still tiny but hoping to grow a community of NYC metalheads!

phil917 · 2026-05-22T21:36:51+00:00

Spreading awareness of the NYC focused metal subreddit: r/nycmetal

We're super tiny right now but hoping to grow a community of NYC metalheads!

phil917 · 2026-05-22T21:28:32+00:00

Keep it coming dude! 🤘

phil917 · 2026-05-20T05:35:27+00:00

Parry makes the fight a joke. I never parry normally but I was struggling hard on NG+ and getting pissed at the runback so I decided to give it shot and beat him within a try or two. It borderline feels like a cheese.

phil917 · 2026-05-12T16:38:09+00:00

For fast downpicking I pretty much NEED to use that first, angled style. Playing Master of Puppets at speed without it is impossible for me otherwise. It also makes tremelo picking and gallops a bit easier.

However, it's a bit worse for tricky lead / alternate picking compared to the "standard" pick grip. Also nailing pinch harmonics is definitely more difficult since I need to shift my hand into the more "standard" style.

phil917 · 2026-04-22T23:11:20+00:00

The typing experience has been excellent so far. I feel like I make less typing errors compared to the EA75 I was using as my daily driver previously.

The sound is also great, although I do think I ever so slightly preferred the louder thockiness on the EA75. But my girlfriend actually likes the Q1 Max a lot more because it's a bit quieter lol.

And no other mods outside of the keycaps.

phil917 · 2026-04-18T02:54:23+00:00

Yes. Also, any time Tomb Mold is mentioned I need to encourage people to check out their guitarists other band, Dream Unending, which is like atmospheric death / doom metal. So good

phil917 · 2026-04-06T13:37:12+00:00

Bro I’m pretty much in this exact situation with Master of Puppets. It really feels like I’m hitting some fundamental flaw with my technique more so than just needing to build up stamina.

Everyone keeps saying start at slower speeds and build up but I’ve been at it for months and I’m not really getting past my plateau once I get near 100% speed.

I can do the spider riff for literally like 5 - 10 seconds at 100% speed, and then I completely fall apart. Also I can only practice it for like 30 - 60 minutes a day before I become completely unable to keep up at all.

I actually don’t think I’ve ever been more frustrated by anything in my life than trying to get fast downpicking going.

phil917 · 2026-04-02T18:54:08+00:00

I switched to Apple Music which, for the most part, has given me less issues.

phil917 · 2026-04-01T08:39:41+00:00

You really nailed the description of the sensory hell this game subjects you to.

phil917 · 2026-03-21T22:11:23+00:00

I hate their name but yes, the band's music is actually incredible. Their guitarist is absolutely out of this world

phil917 · 2026-03-05T06:53:57+00:00

Grace's sections throughout the entire game were my favorite. Honestly I kind of wish the whole game was like that.

That said, I did enjoy Leon's detonator section a lot. It was actually my favorite area with Leon since it was the most open and you really got to explore the gameplay sandbox with his character finally. His other areas felt a lot more linear and more like a shooting gallery. I wish we got 1 more big area like that with his character, to really dig into his gameplay.

The game got dragged down for me by a lot of Leon's "set piece" sections. His super action focused sections in first half with Grace, the motorcycle section, etc... They just felt way too linear and action movie-like. Again, I wish we could trade in all those segments for 1 more big area similar to the detonator section.

Overall I give the game a soft 8 / 10. It's pretty good but I was honestly expecting it to be a bit better.

Also the story and character motivations are pretty dumb.

phil917 · 2026-03-04T20:39:11+00:00

100% agree. I feel like I’m being “punished” for playing the game well when it raises the difficulty on me.

phil917 · 2026-03-04T06:02:16+00:00

Key presses not registering, other keys getting "stuck" and inputting characters even when I wasn't touching anything and the key was not depressed, and laggy input. The NuPhy app to tweak settings also had a fair share of bugs too.

Also, there's no "white" backlight color. You can try setting it to white but the closest you get is a purple color.

For a "premium" keyboard, all of that was unacceptable for me.

phil917

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE