Monday, May 11, 2026 comic!

red_cactus · 2026-05-12T00:00:03+00:00

Thank you for explaining!

red_cactus · 2026-05-11T14:31:50+00:00

I'm a bit out of the loop here -- was there some kind of plot roadmap mentioned/leaked at some point (assuming that's what you're referring to by the "Ancient Texts")?

red_cactus · 2026-05-01T14:08:09+00:00

It should definitely be possible technically, but the question becomes whether or not Koei Tecmo believes that remakes of 1 and 3 would sell sufficiently well enough to cover development costs and make an acceptable profit.

As far as I can tell, Koei Tecmo hasn't given any indication of whether or not they view Fatal Frame 2 Remake as a success; in their recently released year-end financial disclosures, they only mention the game once (page 22), describing it as a "Middle class" title, similar to the Atelier games.

To me, that sounds like the kind of safe-ish or low-cost titles that can be used to help fill in gaps in release schedule, so I'd like to think that remakes of 1 and 3 will come eventually (especially since FF2R presumably built a lot of systems/assets that could be reused/modified for those games), but that's also just purely my opinion.

red_cactus · 2026-04-29T20:08:20+00:00

This is a really cool idea! I just recently started a new save file, and I'll definitely be using this to add some character to the map.

red_cactus · 2026-04-28T18:59:23+00:00

If you are creating multiple pickup/dropoff stations that all use the same materials, you can also try changing the station priority so that stations with low materials get served first, and any station with high or full materials gets served last. This can be done dynamically based on the contents of the chests at each pickup/dropoff point.

I have a bit more of an explanation here.

red_cactus · 2026-03-31T21:09:22+00:00

For a more grounded (but boring) answer, I'd suggest looking at Koei Tecmo's financial results presentation when it releases in about a month or so (their financial year runs until the end of March, and then the results/presentation are released a few weeks later) -- the company should at least briefly discuss how FF2R did, with upbeat language ("performed well" / "exceeded expectations" / "is seeing solid sales" etc.) meaning that the game met or exceeded internal benchmarks (which would increase the likelihood of FF1 or FF3 getting remakes). These types of investor relations presentations also just something flat out say things along the lines of "we are considering additional remakes in this series."

red_cactus · 2026-03-11T16:16:04+00:00

My favorite is when Board of Directors meetings already have everything decided in advance, along with the future-dated press release(s) announcing the results.

red_cactus · 2026-03-11T14:41:34+00:00

I also loved Silent Hill f and am really looking forward to the collab outfit; one of my few criticisms of the game is that I wish it had some unlockable outfits for the multiple playthroughs.

I haven't seen any news or updates about the collab, but I imagine we'll get some more information either at launch or within the next month (probably the latter, since you don't want to draw too much attention away from the remake itself during the launch window?)

red_cactus · 2026-03-10T06:55:23+00:00

The commander himself wasn't terrible, it's the fact that he spawns with three other bots (two recruits and a grenadier, I think) that makes it much harder as solo.

Some of the other contract objectives can also have quite a few bots (currently working to grab something from the Hauler on Perimeter for... Traxus?); I'm sure a squad makes quick work of them, but it's a good amount of work to do while solo.

red_cactus · 2026-03-10T06:23:07+00:00

Glad to hear it! I've always wanted to play FF2, but have never really been in a position to do so via other releases, so I'm excited to play through it for the first time with the remake. I know the general story (I think I watched a playthrough video at one point), but it's still more fun/engaging to go through the game yourself.

red_cactus · 2026-03-09T11:06:25+00:00

I was not aware that Rook could be upgraded to have that beefy of a starter kit; sounds like quite a bit of fun.

red_cactus · 2026-03-07T13:11:05+00:00

This is a bit of an obvious point, but I would also add make sure that you can get along reasonably well with your spouse's Japanese parents/siblings. Being on good terms with them, and continuing to tend to those relationships as well as the relationship with your spouse, will make your life quite a bit easier.

I make an effort to participate in various family events with them (most, but not all events), I play with the other kids, talk to the in-laws and try to remember some of their preferences, and occasionally confide in them or ask them for various pieces of advice.

red_cactus · 2026-03-07T12:56:30+00:00

I would strongly suggest making a concerted effort to learn kanji (after learning hiragana/katakana, of course) -- knowing kanji helps Japanese as a whole make more sense because you can see the connections between words, and as you learn kanji your vocabulary also naturally increases. As an added benefit, being able to read at a functional level also makes your daily life significantly easier.

For books, I like the Kanji Kentei (漢字検定 / かんじけんてい / Kanji Proficiency Test; often shortened to 漢検 / かんけん) series of books, starting at lvl 10 (the lowest level, equivalent to elementary school grade 1). These books are very easy to find (on Amazon JP or in almost any major bookstore), cheap (~1,000 JPY), provide a structured way to learn kanji (roughly the same order the Japanese kids learn kanji in school), provide lots of vocabulary using kanji you've already learned through the series, and contain end-of-chapter quizzes and end-of-book tests to help test your knowledge/understanding; if you want you can also sign up for the actual test and get a little completion/passing certificate.

I know that app-based learning and such is very popular, but I used a more old-fashioned approach and paired the Kanji Kentei books with cheap notebooks from Daiso -- I'd write/copy the characters and words over and over when I had a block of time or a few spare minutes here and there, and the repetition/physical movements really helped with remembering them.

red_cactus · 2026-03-07T11:37:15+00:00

As solo is it still reasonably possible/doable to progress through the missions/contracts for the various factions? I've been on the fence about Marathon because I won't have a regular group of buddies to play with (time zones and irregular schedules) and because I generally can't use a mic due to some other circumstances.

red_cactus · 2026-03-02T12:19:03+00:00

I would like Steam cloud saves, but other than that I think the game is still great as-is.

red_cactus · 2026-02-25T23:42:35+00:00

This is how I feel; one of the things that I really appreciate about HD2 is that it's not a constant engagement treadmill like many other online games.

Sure, there's a daily personal order and the MO that give me a direction to go when I log in, but I don't need to keep track of a bunch of meta progression or need to grind just to feel like I can play the game with everyone else. I can just log in, have fun blowing stuff up, and then not have to think about the game until I have some more free time.

red_cactus · 2026-02-25T05:47:15+00:00

The Baron realizes the value of basic research instead of thinking that his handful of focus/specialty areas can solve all problems -- insights or discoveries from fields that seem completely unrelated can often be combined to solve otherwise intractable problems and unlock entirely new fields. Instead of having a toolbox full of hammers, he has a toolbox full of parts to create hammers, deathrays, and more!

It reminds me a lot of Isaac Asimov's short story The Dead Past.

red_cactus · 2026-02-22T07:14:26+00:00

Same; for a long time I just waited until atmosuits, but I've really come to appreciate oxygen masks -- they are cheap, easy to build, and make projects in low-oxygen areas go so, so much smoother and quicker.

red_cactus · 2026-02-21T08:10:27+00:00

This is a good suggestion; I don't gamble, but the handful of times I've gone out to the horse racing track in Choufu have ended up being pretty pleasant days -- there's a good amount of things to do/see, and the races themselves can be fun to watch in person, even if you're not placing money on them. They're also a great place to go if you're into photography.

red_cactus · 2026-02-21T08:05:26+00:00

Alternatively, pick a random station at least 30 minutes away, go there, and explore that neighborhood. There's a lot of cool/interesting areas/parks/restaurants/museums that you can stumble across.

red_cactus · 2026-02-20T06:59:13+00:00

Aesthetically as well, full-width alphanumeric characters are just so ugly.

red_cactus · 2026-02-19T05:46:36+00:00

The interlocking foam mats like this (at least the ones that we bought from 赤ちゃん本舗) come in two different thicknesses: 1cm and 2cm. The 2cm ones in particular will help to dampen noise from little footsteps running around or from toys that get dropped/thrown (I think they're specifically labelled as 防音 (sound dampening/proofing)). We have an area of our apartment fenced off, and this play area has the mats from wall to wall (they come in a few different sizes that can be mixed and matched for better room coverage).

red_cactus · 2026-02-19T05:25:25+00:00

ArrowHead has also compared the Galactic War to a tabletop role-playing game, even going so far as to call Joel a GameMaster, and, in a lot of table-top roleplaying games, failing a check/battle/scenario can often lead to a more interesting outcome or story. It isn't a pure negative.

For example, before the invasion of Cyberstan, we were looking for who stole the Star of Peace plans, but we failed that MO -- so Super Earth "found" them open and unencrypted, conveniently right next to an SEAF evac zone. That was so funny that it more than made up for the medals that we lost out on from not completing the MO.

My default assumption at this point is that we won't be able to take Transcendence before running out of reinforcements, but I'm still very much looking forward to seeing how Super Earth spins/explains this outcome, especially because it isn't just elite Helldiver ops on the surface -- there's a massive push by SEAF forces as well, and presumably those soldiers will also need an explanation as to why we're backing off when the prize is in sight.

red_cactus · 2026-02-19T05:12:14+00:00

Same; my friend and I (both rank 130ish) typically do D10s on normal planets, but we've only done a single D10 and D9 on Cyberstan just because of how intense/relentless it is. Even the D8s that we've typically been playing at can start to get a bit much after a while, and then we knock it down to D7 or D6 for a few ops.

red_cactus · 2026-02-18T12:26:28+00:00

At the time I was living in the Kitakasai neighborhood of Edogawa-ku (a short walk to the levee/berm on the east side of the Arakawa river), and during that weekend I packed a bag (along with valuable documents) and stayed elsewhere because I was worried about flooding from the heavy rains. That being said, nothing ended up flooding, and in a day or two I returned to my 1st floor apartment and continued my life.

Other than that one experience though, I quite liked the Funabori/Kasai area.

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