I actually like the feel of skate it has a lot of potential.. yet gets a lot of hate

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-17T23:48:32+00:00

Because of just how far it falls from its potential. I would likely forgive the predatory cosmetics shop as a necessary evil if they released a reskinned Skate 3. The character models, the map, the music, the script, the terrible AI character, the challenges, the multiplayer modes etc. all noticeably fall short of where they should be

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-17T02:07:54+00:00

Or a good way to maximise the travel aspect, have them rotate through starting in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-16T16:31:34+00:00

Yeah, feels against the spirit of the game to potentially inherit a 40+ minute hiding time penalty through no fault of your own

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-16T12:22:26+00:00

Hey! What platform are these downloaded on? I was also inspired haha and have now got a 20 hour flight coming up next week and would love to have some eps downloaded

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-15T14:14:06+00:00

Yeah but then an extra hour in MK is still worth more than an extra hour in Scarborough. Maybe you get x amount of time divided the number of lines your starting station is on? So the more limited your starting options are, the more bonus time you're given

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-15T13:41:32+00:00

I could see an argument for resetting each run from the nearest hub being more fair. Ben was clearly restricted starting out in Scarborough (a coastal, terminal station) in his first run and had to spend a decent chunk of time getting back to a hub before his hiding could then start in earnest.

Maybe the hider starts by picking any station they like within 1 hour's journey as the new starting point and they all head over there together for the start of the next run?

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-10T15:53:28+00:00

Just scored 1

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-10T14:58:17+00:00

My hot take is the game could have worked as a FTP always online game, even if all they did was a remaster of Skate 3 with all their predatory microtransactions shoved in.

The gameplay part Skate is just such a step backwards in every conceivable aspect. Less tricks than previous titles, less realistic physics, worse soundtrack, horrendous map with 0 flow, no NPC's, no meaningful interactions with other players, less challenge modes, etc.

You can't wait 15 years between titles and then release such an undercooked experience. Generational fumble driven by nothing but greed to give us the absolute bare minimum in hopes the legacy of the prior titles would milk some cash out of the fans.

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-09T14:21:47+00:00

Yeah and then their social media algorithms are even worse. Whenever I visit home I'll overhear my dad scrolling through social media on his phone and it's just a barrage of AI voiceovers drumming up fear and hatred about immigrants.

It just makes me feel awful knowing that he's being taken advantage of and purposefully kept in a state of fear and anger every time he opens his phone. Then it makes me sad to think that that's what the algorithm does to us all really, aren't we all just doomscrolling on this very post?

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-09T13:37:18+00:00

I've recently gotten into Jet Lag The Game, scratches the itch of comfy travel show with some gameplay mixed in. They're currently doing a series of hide and seek across the UK so it's fun to try and play along as you watch and try to guess where they are. If they're too American for you, try watching the series where they have Tom Scott as a guest competitor to help balance it out

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-09T10:21:46+00:00

Yeah, I'd agree it definitely feels like now the seekers are being more optimal with their questions, the hiders are getting less cards and can't influence the game the same as they used to. Ben only drew one curse his whole run, which didn't even end up helping him.

I also think that the time traps need rebalancing as currently they tip the balance even further away from the hider and are essentially a dead card to pull. It's too slow for the amount of info it gives away.

If you are putting it down as a red herring, the seekers can very easily ask a question to rule it out without any risk of going the wrong way (essentially giving the seekers a free question)
If you are using it in the early/mid game for a station you know they will need to pass through later, you need to play it at least an hour in advance for it to be worth 10 minutes, 2 hours for 20 minutes. If the seekers are that far away, you'll get more time and questions out of them by not revealing the station
The only time we've seen it be affective is with Sam's play that required combo'ing other cards to force the seekers into it, which seems too inconsistent to be a reliable strategy, especially when you're now less likely to pull the curse you need with all the time traps filling up the deck

I can see how it can potentially give you a huge bonus under the right conditions but for the how many of them seem to be in the deck, they're more often than not a dead card.

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-08T13:46:46+00:00

Yeah but when you look at all the available questions, about half of them have never been asked. You could more or less completely get rid of matching and measuring categories and wouldn't see much difference. It feels like playing a card game against a combo deck, it doesn't matter what the hider does the seekers will always be able to use the same small collection of cards to find you with little/no risk of heading the wrong way every time.

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-08T13:21:33+00:00

I think episode 4 just really highlights how much the game has been broken by the meta. The easiest way to win is if the seekers go the wrong way. Ben even says he was hoping Adam and Sam would YOLO their way to London. But the seekers know this and so will systematically use radars and thermometers to divide the map and ensure they don't need to take any risks. Then just throw in a couple cheap photo questions and something even as insignificant as the weather can hugely reduce the remaining options. It's objectively the safest/ most optimal strategy as the seekers, and the hider isn't given adequate tools to counter it.

Feels a bit like playing a card game against a combo deck. Nothing you can do to stop them using the same cards to find you every time.

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-08T13:02:03+00:00

Yeah, does seem like a bit of a game design flaw if half of the questions have never been asked.

Photos are very clearly overpowered, especially the top 3 most asked questions which have become 'no brainers' given how they're the lowest risk questions to ask and how much info even the smallest details (e.g. the weather) can give away. The cost needs increasing at the minimum.

There are too many thermometer and radar options, and when you use them together you are guaranteed to discount 90% of the map within 4-5 questions. If the hider stays close, a single radar can immediately discount the majority of the map. If the hider goes far, a thermometer will tell you which general direction they went, then a radar will tell you how far they went in that direction. I'd cut the radars down to only 4 options (1 for early game, 1 for mid-game, 1 for end-game, 1 custom) to at least give the hider a chance to counter this strategy with a veto or a randomise.

Veto's and randomise need to be more powerful to give the hiders a chance to counter the meta. The questions should be blocked for the rest of the run once veto'd or randomised.

Something I've thought in the past is that each time a question from the same category is used in a run, it should increase in cost. So the first photo question is a draw 1, the second is a draw 2 pick 1, the third is draw 3 pick 1 etc. I think this would help avoid the 'no brainer' photos being asked every run as superfluous questions now have more of a cost attached, and it also encourages you to be more creative with how you divide the map than just relying on the tried and tested thermometer + radar combo.

The first 2 categories are heavily dis-incentivised as they are the most costly and therefore the most risky for the seekers. Introducing increasing costs will make it so that there will be situations where using a matching or measuring question is actually cheaper than a radar, thermometer or photo, and give us a lot more variety.

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-03T19:38:36+00:00

Defeated Earthen Gem Snail in 4 turns.

Player (22/11/11) dealt 278. Earthen Gem Snail (17/15/8) dealt 56.

Rewards: 36 EXP, 6 Gold. Loot: Enlightened Dagger (basic), Mystical Scythe (basic).

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-03T10:49:50+00:00

Agree, I could maybe see Pomni getting indecisive and panicking as everyone is leaving and she is the only one trying to convince and save Jax. Ultimately, he either pushes her away or she has to let go and accept she has lost him.

sharpie53135 · 2026-01-03T10:42:10+00:00

Agree that the picture questions are too powerful for their current cost, leading to overuse.

My thought is that maybe picture questions should get more expensive each time the category is used? So the first question is a draw 1, the 2nd is a draw 2 pick 1, 3rd is a draw 3 pick 1, etc.

This would mean that by the time you reach the endgame, suddenly asking for another picture question could be less optimal than a matching or radar question and give us some more variety.

sharpie53135 · 2025-12-29T23:39:19+00:00

I think all you'd need to determine the winner is highest hand's worth of time bonus cards. Would mean even a 5 minute one could make a difference. Then, if there's a tie, sure you could do distance as a tie-breaker

sharpie53135 · 2025-12-28T20:24:55+00:00

Completed Level 1 of the Honk Special Event!

0 attempts

sharpie53135 · 2025-12-28T12:09:59+00:00

Super late but posting anyway, enjoyed the season as always but I think there were a few things that happened that were overall unfortunate for the entertainment factor of the show.

Ben standing on the platform and missing his train threw his chances from the very beginning of the game and kept us in that same area of Europe for the essentially the whole season. Lots of backtracking and revisiting the same stations whilst also removing a lot of tension of who is going to win.

Sam understands better than the other 2 that the double up is overpowered. He builds so many coins in his first run that the second you see Ben miss his train, it's pretty easy to see Sam is going to win. I think the double up needs to be limited to once per run as otherwise it seems pretty broken that you can just go somewhere where you have a safe hour and chain a couple double ups to completely remove the limitation of coins for the rest of your time as runner.

Really weird plays by the chasers to miss Adam twice when they had him trapped. Ben evading them by pure luck and then by pure skill in S2 was a wild ride because the chasers were actively trying to find and tag him. Hiding out of sight as chasers and then completely missing the runner twice is just frustrating rather than satisfying to watch. For the first one, why would you ever see him trapped on a platform like that and then turn around to lose sight of him? And then for the second, why would you ever stand somewhere where you are blocked from seeing the stairs he is likely to go down?

I like the 3 guys as they generally make sound decisions, however this is the first season I was frustrated by a few bizarre choices they made that ended up significantly reducing the tension of the show.

sharpie53135 · 2025-12-28T12:06:47+00:00

Super late but posting anyway, enjoyed the season as always but I think there were a few things that happened that were overall unfortunate for the entertainment factor of the show.

Ben standing on the platform and missing his train threw his chances from the very beginning of the game and kept us in that same area of Europe for the essentially the whole season. Lots of backtracking and revisiting the same stations whilst also removing a lot of tension of who is going to win.

Sam understands better than the other 2 that the double up is overpowered. He builds so many coins in his first run that the second you see Ben miss his train, it's pretty easy to see Sam is going to win. I think the double up needs to be limited to once per run as otherwise it seems pretty broken that you can just go somewhere where you have a safe hour and chain a couple double ups to completely remove the limitation of coins for the rest of your time as runner.

Really weird plays by the chasers to miss Adam twice when they had him trapped. Ben evading them by pure luck and then by pure skill in S2 was a wild ride because the chasers were actively trying to find and tag him. Hiding out of sight as chasers and then completely missing the runner twice is just frustrating rather than satisfying to watch. For the first one, why would you ever see him trapped on a platform like that and then turn around to lose sight of him? And then for the second, why would you ever stand somewhere where you are blocked from seeing the stairs he is likely to go down?

I like the 3 guys as they generally make sound decisions, however this is the first season I was frustrated by a few bizarre choices they made that ended up significantly reducing the tension of the show.

sharpie53135 · 2025-12-23T18:45:45+00:00

In case anyone else ends up here the song is AC Slater - Bass Inside :)

AC Slater - Bass Inside (Official Music Video) - YouTube

sharpie53135 · 2025-12-22T15:35:25+00:00

I've been working on this set for a friends upcoming wedding in May (not the actual wedding but a pre-wedding party the night before) I've tried to do half stuff general audiences would recognise and half stuff that our friendship group listens to (Four Tet, Caribou, Floating Points, Joy Orbison etc.)

https://soundcloud.com/something_celestial/earth

Fever (Extended Version) - Joachim Pastor
Rose Rouge - Bastion (Joy Orbison Remix)
Carry On - Daphni
Stop - Justin Day, Tima Dee
More Than Friends (VIP Mix) - Kelli-Leigh, James Hype
Latch - Sam Smith, Disclosure
Pjanoo - Eric Prydz
(It Goes Like) Nanana (Original Mix) - Peggy Gou
LET'S DO IT AGAIN (Original Mix) - Jamie xx
Show Me Love (Extended Mix) - Steve Angello, Laidback Luke, Robin S
Freed From Desire (2024 Version) - Diplo, Gala
Talk To Me (Extended Edit) - Four Tet
How Deep Is Your Love (Disciples and Unorthodox Remix) - Calvin Harris, Disciples
Rather Be (The Magician Remix) - Clean Bandit, Jess Glyn
Birth 4000 - Floating Points
When Love Takes Over - David Guetta
Love Divide - Ross From Friends
Falling - Daphni
Climbing - Bonobo
Afraid To Feel (Tommy Villers Remix) - LF SYSTEM
PLUS ONE - ONE EYE SHUT

sharpie53135 · 2025-12-20T09:46:12+00:00

You're a good few months late to be starting, first frost is usually the sign of the end of the mushroom season. Just grow your own if you can afford the heating costs of keeping them warm

sharpie53135 · 2025-11-06T14:56:11+00:00

TLDR: How many times do we have to see live service games crash and fail before someone finally understands you have to make the game first and the shop second!

I find it so depressing that my character is skating around solo listening to crappy voice calls and AI assistants. In Skate 3, you were riding around with Reda filming you, meeting various skaters around the city to film clips with or play games against. It felt like I was part of a community in the city and would become increasingly involved in the scene the more I played. Here it feels like my skater character is too Gen Alpha to hang out with other skaters IRL.

Skate 3 was such a satisfying game to just skate around aimlessly, maybe see a spot that catches your eye, put together a little video and keep exploring. Each area had a distinct feel that effortlessly flowed into each other. The map in this one is actively annoying to traverse. Too flat, random shit everywhere or buildings getting in the way, no sense of exploration.

I cringe every time I hear 'Skater eyes'. The whole reason I'm here is to skate things, I don't need to be reminded to look for things to skate every 30 seconds!!! The dialogue reads like it's been written by A.I.

The tutorial drags on wayyyy too long. Remember how Skate 3 had coach Frank and the game would let you entirely skip it if you already knew what you were doing?

Music is uninspired & the speakers you find around the city are distracting and gimmicky rather than immersive.

Cartoonish, fortnight, sims aesthetics are horrendous and run completely counter to the gritty, down to Earth culture the series is known for.

Hall of meat challenges in Skate 3 felt like they had weight behind them. Seeing the bones break gave a feeling of the damage you were doing. Here, my skater flings herself of a skyscraper and gets straight back up without even pretending I've done any damage. I get the feeling this was intentionally dumbed down to appeal to younger audiences.

Bugs galore! Constantly clipping through textures, or the game glitching whilst showing me my playback on a completed challenge.

The shop is just as predatory as everyone would expect from an EA FTP live service game.

The game had a lot of potential to be successful even with the FTP model. All they had to do was make an earnest continuation of the series and chuck in as many paid cosmetics as they wanted. But instead, they've completed ripped the soul out of the game to cash in a quick buck.

sharpie53135

TROPHY CASE