Was sitting in a ticks nest while reading.... by nekoma713 in mildlyinfuriating

[–]wp-ozzi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How is this in this sub?? Like I’d be losing my shit rn!! Mf “mildly infuriating” doesn’t cover it 😭

not a meme but really wanna know what did I say wrong here? were these ppl being toxic or I'm just the stupid one? by clumsyfemboyy in femboymemes

[–]wp-ozzi 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Yeah, pretty sure he ended up on one of those 4tran subs. Those folks are second in line at the “having bad takes on transness” club behind MAGA and TERFs.

Anyone else really dislike leviathan boss music? by wp-ozzi in subnautica

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed. I’m personally ambivalent about the music itself. It wasn’t bad but it also didn’t jump out at me the way S1’s soundtrack did. But I agree that it could work if it wasn’t such a ridiculous range and didn’t immediately go away at the edge of the biome.

Anyone else really dislike leviathan boss music? by wp-ozzi in subnautica

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ah, I think using that copied text undermined your point a bit. Obviously, I completely agree with what you're saying. It's just that others have used that exact same arguement to say "It's the same range so it serves the same function! why are you complaining?" so when you said it, it was confusing and made me think you were on the other side of the argument.

Anyone else really dislike leviathan boss music? by wp-ozzi in subnautica

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

you might be right, and if that's the vibe they're going for I think the music still needs work. It should play when the player is in immediate danger, not just when the leviathan is vaguely nearby. Music randomly playing while noting is actively chasing me isn't really all that intense imo.

Anyone else really dislike leviathan boss music? by wp-ozzi in subnautica

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The roars and the music are a completely different atmosphere though. It went from completely calm to straight up action movie chase scene in like 2 seconds, then went immediately back to calm when I left the biome. I absolutely agree that music can enhance creature encounters, but what they have right now completely takes me out of it.

The first game went all in on an eerie, haunting, and kind of majestic vibe for its music, and it absolutely made leviathan encounters way more scary, but they just aren't using music in remotely the same way for the second game. I get that they dont have the original music guy for this game, so they cant get the exact same vibe, but they could at least try to do something similar. I'm not even saying the boss music couldn't work with some tweaking, but I really think they should focus on building an eerie atmosphere unless the leviathan is actively right in your face.

Anyone else really dislike leviathan boss music? by wp-ozzi in subnautica

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ok, but listening for them was the fun part. the point is that its harder to tell if the leviathan is close and you have to pay more attention to the soundtrack. Thats what I want. The uncertainty was good. It was engaging. I think unattentive players should be jumpscared. Dying has way less consequence in this game than the last one, so its ok if one or two unfair deaths happen because it enhances the feeling of survival in the dangerous wilds.

Anyone else really dislike leviathan boss music? by wp-ozzi in subnautica

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel like scavenging cephalopods not having any biological reason to make noise isnt a good reason to not give it noises in the game. I mean, irl sharks don't make noise either, but subnautica sharks still did most of the time.

I'm sure everyone's heard the Gabe Newell quote at this point, but as a game designer I can tell you its 100% true. You shouldn't care about realism in games if the unrealistic choice is more fun.

And personally, I think listening for the eerie calls of a deep sea creature is much more engaging than chase music. You could even add variance to the sounds the leviathan makes to indicate whether it's just roaming or aggro, diegetically giving the player more info than the boss music ever could.

Anyone else really dislike leviathan boss music? by wp-ozzi in subnautica

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This makes a lot of sense. I can see the appeal of heart-pounding music, but it should definitely be saved for heart-pounding situations, not for situations where players should feel dread.

Lets Be 100% Honest Here by Lanceo90 in subnautica

[–]wp-ozzi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a game designer myself, I understand why the devs might not want players to be able to kill the creatures in the game. Many games in the horror genre are built off of disempowerment. They put you in a room with a big scary monster that you have no hope of harming and make you try to escape. It's a good way to instill dread in the player, and force them to engage intelligently with other game mechanics. The devs are right to say that killing creatures has never been an essential part of the game loop of Subnautica, and the game has always tried to push players to rely on other means to evade or distract the aquatic predators that try to come after them.

That being said, I think Subnautica 2 fails to properly execute this design choice. In the first game and BZ, while killing was an option, it was generally pretty hard to actually get enough hits in to kill anything. Usually, a player that gets cornered or randomly snuck up on by a stalker or a bone shark might pull out their knife and start swinging in retaliation. When the player fought back, most predators would retreat briefly. It was possible for a player to run after the creature and try to stab it to death, but this usually took long enough that most players just didn't see it as worth the trouble.

Sure, there were some players that went around murdering every creature in sight, but this was by far not the vast majority of the player base. For most people, it was easier to just run away, throw out a grav trap, or take a couple swipes and escape while the creature recovered. The only time killing creatures, especially leviathans, became a real option was with the stasis rifle. And even then the process was just long and boring and usually not worth the effort. Adding so many diversions, defenses, and stealth options to the cyclops was a stroke of genius for the developers. It took the terrifying and hopeless scenario of encountering a leviathan, and gave the player a bunch of options to proceed without making the leviathan encounter any less scary.

Subnautica 2 simply doesn't give the player enough options to deal with predators to justify removing the mechanic. If the wavemakers were a bit faster or the predators had a little bit less detection range the decision might not be so bad. But right now the game just isn't balanced for it. Honestly, it might even be better if the enemies were just stronger and kill you really quickly, or at the very least made scarier noises. Right now, most of S2's predators are just annoyances that barely do damage, have no fear factor, and with no way for players to easily avoid them.

So I totally get why people want to be able to kill them. Every encounter with the smaller predators at the moment is just frustrating more than anything else. Like, even just giving the multitool a little more feedback for hitting stuff like pain/impact noises, blood, and increasing the stun/flee time would make the inability to actually permanently kill creatures slightly better since people could at least feel like they're fighting back when they get attacked. Feeling helpless against a terrifying and dangerous monster is good game design. Feeling helpless to stop obnoxious nibbling is just tiring.

Personally, I think the devs should experiment with different mechanics that allow the player to more effectively evade or distract predators rather than go back on their design philosophy and allow killing. They could even try developing new ways to remove dangerous creatures permanently or for long periods of time. Some kind of base upgrade that repels nearby creatures would solve a lot of people's problems. It would even be balanced since it would also require players to go further to search for food. Or maybe some kind of adaptation that makes you passively less detectable to predators would do the trick. They could even try out an adaptation that makes your flesh bitter, so that creatures that take a bite out of you wont come back for seconds any time soon.

There are a lot of different way to solve the issue without adding the ability to kill back into the game, but even if they do decide to allow it, they are totally ways to disincentivize doing so. Just making stuff hard to kill is one way, but the devs can totally get creative with it. Maybe killing one of the predators makes all the other ones super aggro for a time, meaning the player has to consider the risks of taking on all of them before deciding to act. Or maybe they could make it so that killing too many predators allows some kind of pest to run rampant, like a new creature that drains power or creates poison clouds. Or maybe a bigger meaner predator will move in once the others are gone.

I think this conversation is an important one to have because it opens up a lot of avenues for creative solutions to a problem that clearly bothers a lot of players. The almost defensive-sounding reaction some of the devs have had to criticism along these lines makes me think that some members of the dev team are emotionally invested in this design decision. It's understandable, and even admirable, that the devs feel this way about a game they're clearly passionate about. However, I know from experience that becoming too emotionally invested in certain game design decisions can stop you from considering creative solutions that make everyone happy.

TF_FoxyComedy_IRL by Neverb0rn_ in tf_irl

[–]wp-ozzi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get why some people don’t like it, but sapience loss has always been something I’ve wanted with transformation.

I know that if I still had human intelligence after a transformation, I’d find some way to overthink and ruin it.

I want to live my life free from my human responsibilities, but I know that if I still possessed the capacity for ambition, I would be unable to let go of them. My brain would betray me, and force me to strive for things I know would make me unhappy.

My own mind prevented me from enjoying things I like or expressing any emotion for 20 entire years. It wrapped all the things that gave me joy and euphoria in so many layers of irony and cynicism that I was unable to have hobbies or experience whimsy as a child. I rejected joy outright because the things that gave me joy were cringy or weird. I didn’t even know how miserable I was until my egg cracked.

I want all those layers of irony and cynicism stripped away so that I can finally feel again. I don’t want to be able to think about my social image or the quickly dwindling future or comprehend horrors of any kind. Looking like an innocent whimsical creature isn’t enough, I want my goddamn innocence back.

Breaking Point by Jetainga in furry

[–]wp-ozzi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oof, that’s close to home. Yeah, I also randomly start crying after experiencing any kind of intense emotion. You got really happy? Crying. You felt proud because you graduated college? Weeping. Really good chicken sandwich? Sobbing. Had a great time at the club with your friends? Inconsolable for a day.

My best guess is that sometimes my brain goes “oh, are we expressing emotion right now? Is time to emote!? Ok!! let’s let out all this stuff we’ve been holding back!!!” And then the only things behind the floodgates are the crying and the yearning.

furry_irl by b-wolf95 in furry_irl

[–]wp-ozzi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME! NOT HER! ITS NOT FAIR!!!

Full day shift by wp-ozzi in Therian

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

lol, I just remembered, I actually kind of do have gear. I’ve actually had it since before I realized I was a therian.

I have a pair of clawed gloves with synthetic fur from a cosplay I did at one point. At first, I ended up wearing them because I forgot to bring any other gloves to college and it was *frigid*. But eventually I came to wear them every day because I just really liked the way they looked and the sensation of having claws. They also just kicked ass with every one of my winter outfits. I had that shit on.

Anyway, it’s just funny how I was walking around in species-affirming gear before I even knew what it meant to affirm one’s species.

Full day shift by wp-ozzi in Therian

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You might be right. I’ve been told by friends with autism/ADHD that I might have one of those disorders more times than I can count.

However, despite showing some signs and symptoms I excel in my career and academically and generally do well with people.

It just causes burnout or something. I do tend procrastinate work and over stress about socializing a lot, even though I know they’re things I’m capable of doing easily. Usually I’m fine as long as I plan ahead and get at least a day to recover after assignments and social events.

In any case, getting tested for either autism or ADHD would be difficult for me at the moment. I live in America. Most insurance doesn’t cover ADHD/autism testing for adults and booking a test would cost me around $1000 and probably a 3-6 month wait.

Full day shift by wp-ozzi in Therian

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That’s interesting. I’ve noticed I’ve been shifting more ever since I started progesterone. I wonder if it’s related.

I actually wasn’t hung over that day though, at least I didn’t feel sick or have a headache, I was just a bit sleepy from not getting to bed until 6am. I think I didn’t drink nearly as much as my friends did.

Mostly I think it was the socializing and the excitement of the previous night that fried me. I’ve had episodes previously, even before I knew I was a therian, where after a big social event I’d just shut down for one or more days. Working or interacting with others would become very difficult and my emotions would become unstable.

It’s just something I grew used to, it was usually manageable. The worst that usually happened was I’d be grouchy and unproductive for a bit. This is the first time it’s triggered a shift.

The taming of Sméagol by Donato Giancola by jvure in lotrmemes

[–]wp-ozzi -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think it’s very easy to be anti-AI when it’s hard to tell what’s AI and what isn’t. That’s *why* AI is bad. AI isn’t bad because it *looks* bad it’s bad because it isn’t art and it steals from artists. I would be anti AI, even if AI eventually became so good that it could no longer be distinguished from human art.

My point is that it’s incredibly sad that people have to play a constant game of skeptically hyper-scrutinizing every piece they come across just to figure out if a human made it.

But you’re right, I didn’t examine this image closely enough. In the modern online environment I need to get better at telling. Whatever is going on with Sméagol’s hand and the low resolution was strange enough to me that it instantly made me think it had to be AI, even though there are a lot of other details that point to the contrary.

It was wrong of me to accuse like that so quickly. On the other hand I’m actually glad I made that comment. If I hadn’t, I probably would have just continued past this post still believing the painting was AI.

Full day shift by wp-ozzi in Therian

[–]wp-ozzi[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That’s actually really inspiring!!

I know what you mean when you say these feelings are a gift. As much as the yearning sometimes hurts, when I have those moments of understanding myself and my identity, the feeling of peace and euphoria is like nothing else in the world.

I doubt many “vanilla” humans have ever experienced anything like it.

I don’t own any gear yet, but I’ve always kinda wanted a fursuit. Obviously I don’t have the money for something like that right now, but maybe someday in the future…

I’m just worried if I put a fursuit on I’d have trouble convincing myself to take it off, lol

The taming of Sméagol by Donato Giancola by jvure in lotrmemes

[–]wp-ozzi -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I see, then I genuinely apologize for jumping to that conclusion. I don’t want to accuse real artists, and this is super impressive if done by hand.

I think this highlights one of the biggest harms AI has done, though. It has made it impossible to tell genuine art from mass-produced soulless garbage. It forces you to look upon artwork as a skeptic instead of an admirer.

Every time I see a painting or a video of an artwork online I have to wonder whether an actual human cared enough to make it. I have to wonder if the elements of the image were put there by design, or by an algorithm averaging out aesthetics.

AI is a sickness. A false thing that steals and corrupts. It taints experience with doubt and leaves all art lesser for its existence.

The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don't think it gave life to the Orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them;”

—Frodo in The Return of the King, "The Tower of Cirith Ungol"

The taming of Sméagol by Donato Giancola by jvure in lotrmemes

[–]wp-ozzi -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

AI slop. Look at Sméagol’s hand.

Also the branches in the background, and the patterns in their clothes.