Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN I know, I goofed up there with my joke, 50 Celsius of heat has really fried my brain o.o

@Yousef- Minus 50 Miyazaki fan points for you missy.

@JohnnyShoulder 😔 I am a disappointment to the Miyazaki nation.

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN Hey mate, I’m doing well. No major issues other than the usual life struggles. I’ve definitely been stretching out my DS2 playthrough as well as being open about a few of the things that were aggravating like the poison caves and such, so I can see why you might have the impression I’m disappointed with it but I’m actually enjoying it. Maybe not on par with my enjoyment of DS1 and Bloodborne, but still quite enjoyable. Unfortunately a lot of real world issues have beckoned, as @Yousef- mentioned. One small thing is that I’ve spent quite a bit of free time the last week watching the Olympics, for example. I figure that they only come around once every 4 years so I can sacrifice a little gaming to be in the moment with the rest of the sports world. I have had a small amount of travel mixed in also that affected my game time. Also, I did bite off more than I can chew with the several games I’ve tried to juggle also, which is my fault. But most of the issue is time — not having enough of it, that is. The good news is I have a relatively open schedule coming up for a few days. Fingers crossed that I get some more time in Drangleic and beyond. 😄

@Th3solution Man I’m kinda jelly, jealous as jellybeans, jelly as a jellyfish jelly sandwich cuz me and my dad can’t keep track of the Olympics, too much life stuff >.>, no free time. I’m happy for you though.

@Yousef- I changed my top 5 rappers on my profile, replaced Ransom and Guilty Simpson with Killer Mike and Ghostface Killah. As a hip hop fan, do you think this was a good choice?

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN as a hip hop fan, it’s not my place to dictate what fellow hip hop enthusiasts should enjoy, everyone’s entitled to whatever artist resonates with them most. 😆
That said, it’s fair to assume you’re merely acquiring my own opinions on those artists and to that I say yeah great choices xD
Interesting changes for sure. I will likely make tiny changes to my own top 5 some time in the future.

@Yousef- It’s been pretty fun to watch. The men’s 1500 meter was a highlight yesterday. I was pulling for the British chap, Kerr, because of the way his rival the Norwegian, Ingebrigtsen, had been talking smack about him and pumping himself up in the media. Then when the American, Hocker, came from behind and shocked everyone by stealing the race from them both (Ingebrigtsen ended up not even medaling) it was quite a moment! Team USA typically has competitive athletes in the shorter distances but the 1500 m hasn’t really been a consistent strength so it was really fun to see that.

Of course I’m mostly interested in my home country but I still like to watch a lot of other countries’ participants and the real fascination is getting to know the human story behind many of these people. A lot of athletes representing other countries also attend school and train at U.S. NCAA Universities so I can often find someone to root for if they attend a school I like, even if they are competing for their homeland.

Each day usually has a couple event finals that interest me, but there is just so much content that I can’t conceivably watch it all. It’s kind of like the gaming situation and all the games that are out now and it seems insurmountable to play all of them that I want. The TV network will curate a replay of many of the highlights (mostly U.S. focused but sometimes other interesting outcomes and stories) so that’s a good way to get 12 hours worth of sporting events abridged down to 3 hours of TV time. However, because of the time difference, it’s hard to not get results spoiled that way and so I try to peek in during the morning and daytime hours and try to watch some events live, but that’s not really possible all the time because of my day job.

It’s great to get these athletes the attention and recognition they deserve though. They dedicate years of their lives and many hours of sacrifice training to their singular event, and all to just have their 5 minutes of fame (or years of regret and agony if they don’t perform well). Here in the U.S. they get a certain buzz for a little while, like the aforementioned Hocker and “Pommel Horse Steve”, for example, but they quickly fade back into obscurity. Even consistent champions like Katie Ledecky will be able to walk around mostly unnoticed in public in about 6 months. I’m not sure if this is that way elsewhere; I’ve heard that Olympic champions in some counties return as heroes and are set for life with government sponsored subsidy and ongoing public fame for years to come. Not sure if that’s true.

You just beautifully summed up pro wrestling 🤣.
In fact, me and Tasuki had this exact same exchange about it not really that long ago. (If you’re randomly reading this, g’day)
The bit about your job is kinda why I too am having a hard time leaving longer replies, not to mention, working on personal projects.
Surprisingly, I’m still gaming. I’m replaying a few gta stuff on pcsx2 via my steam deck, attempting to 100% them, funnily enough I do have the actual games on mind on a real psp (which I can also connect to a tv… actually maybe I should be trying that).

@Yousef- You remind me that I really need to get back in the habit of using my Portal again. I was good about taking advantage of it to ‘multitask’ and play a game while watching sports on the TV, but after the last firmware update I seem to have a less stable connection and so then I just got out of the habit.

As for Pro Wrestling, I’ve never quite understood the allure… 😅 but there’s clearly an audience!

@Th3solution oh you’re not obligated to “understand it”, I was merely relating your experiences to mine, it sounded spookily similar, is all. >.>

I’m really jelly of people who can multitask like that, I have a switch, a psp, a steam deck and an NDS and yet I’ll never see myself “play a game while watching something”, I can only fixate on one. Hell, I even try to dock everything, even have a dock for my psp! It’s third party, there’s no Sony-licensed docks as far as I’m aware.
I would presume you mean like, play stuff during bits you’re not interested in.

I hope you and I will become free more, I enjoy these chats, they’re quite relaxing, but the offline world calls for me a lot. >.>

At least I have good news. My uncle, who works in the same field that I do, (huh, feels weird to give a “my dad works at Sony” kinda comment and be sincere) and he’s been walking me through the ropes often and he’s now taught me how to “apply a vacation form”. (I’m using quotations because I dunno what I’m supposed to write there, technical English is my weakness, as you may be acquainted)
I ran into my uncle while visiting my grandma. She commented on my looks, saying I wasn’t properly groomed for my age and need to take better care of my hair. I guess I finally reached that age you where grandmas stop spoiling you. >.>
But it was all in good humor, so don’t worry I actually really had a fantastic time. I love visiting her. xDD

@Yousef- The multitasking is often hard for me also. I don’t try and watch a movie and play a game, or anything like that. Mainly it would be during sports like NFL, NBA, MLB games. There’s a lot of downtime in those, especially with commercial breaks, halftime shows, timeouts, and just the general slow pace of some of the games between plays (less of a problem with NBA). I think it will work well with Olympics because there’s often down time between events that I’m interested in. So for example I probably could have knocked out 30 minutes of grinding on a video game whilst they showed the Chinese diving team just methodically destroy the entire competition (seriously, they are like precision robots for their craft, and I mean that as a compliment. So dominant) and so it’s actually not as interesting to watch because you know they will just consistently get 8’s and 9’s. It’s all very predictable, so easy to tune out for that section.

But the video game also needs to be a game that doesn’t require heavy concentration. So it seems to work well for farming sessions, turn based combat, and walking sim type exploration games or sequences in games between major story points. I would think a musou could fit well because the gameplay is somewhat repetitive between larger story moments (….? Maybe?).

And as far as the English, “apply a vacation form” I think maybe you would mean “submit a request for vacation time” or “apply for time off” or “apply for leave time”. Lol, so in other words, there’s no one way to say it so that’s fine.

And grandmas can be that way. I know my grandma has given me feedback on my appearance before. I think she probably means well. Just be careful. They usually just expect us all to look and dress like we still live in the 1970’s.

@Jimmer-jammer Also how is the film work going? Feel like you have a blockbuster on your hands yet?

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN Well, I pre-pro’d like a madman for two months only to have the project fall apart twice. We’re now going ahead with it at less than a quarter of the intended budget, so hopefully what we lack in production value is made up for with heart 😂 In other words, things are going well, with all of the usual ups and downs of independent filmmaking.

@Jimmer-jammer I wish you all the best with it, and also congratulations on your countrymen's recent achievements in the Olympics. I haven't been following them as closely as Sol, but someone told me Canada have been doing well (relay win).

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN Thank you, and thank you! I’ve actually been watching quite a bit of the olympics this year so it’s been cool to see Canada doing well in something other than winter sports. Apparently we’re a hammer throwing nation, who knew? 😂

I don’t generally gravitate towards live service games but I’ve never really put my finger on why. Sure, there’s the somewhat predatory nature of their structure, or the inescapable feeling that they exist only to chase gold at the end of the hypothetical rainbow all the while talented developers are being forced to gamble with their studios’ future…but none of these things are substantial or outright true enough for me to hang my hat on.

Reading the comments on the Concord article today, I’ve determined that what I actually dislike about the live service model is that, as a player, your experience is completely beholden to public opinion in a way not found in other games. A single player experience stands on its own. I can love it for the reasons that I love it even if everyone else hates it and it doesn’t really alter my experience with the game. Also, if it’s determined to be a financial failure, it doesn’t just disappear. I don’t think I like the idea of my own personal thoughts and convictions on what I find appealing being so directly influenced and decided by forces so outside of my control when it comes to games.

Beyond that, the discourse around these releases seem to devolve into simple wars of words on whether or not they should live or die within the most shallow of contexts, eschewing any enriching discussion on what they do or don’t bring to the table. I can’t help but shake my head at all the comments vying for Concord to fail - live service sucks, what a waste of resources, when will Sony learn - yet in the same breath decry the canceling of Factions - a sure fire hit, what were Sony thinking? Neither of these games has released, yet their fate is already sealed amongst the court of public opinion.

Unfortunately, it’s the nature of the live service beast. From the outside looking in, and as a potential player, I’m burnt out before I’ve even picked up a controller.

@Jimmer-jammer Amen, brother. Well said.

@Jimmer-jammer Some good points well made there mate.

It is not just for live service games, I read the other day someone was glad a single player game had not been successful and that the developer was not getting any profit. Just because they didn't like the game.

I don't get that mentality, wishing ill on others simply because a game didn't gel with you. Not a good look.

Edit: And the game is highly rated too, so was not like it was a complete dud either.

@JohnnyShoulder That was me in the unpopular (the game was, as you pointed out, highly rated) opinions thread - I thought the little emoji thingy at the end of the post would've indicated I was being a tad facetious! I'm never buying a digital only game at full price ever again, though - lesson learnt on that front. I'm just bitter because I felt ripped off with no way to recoup any of my hard earned due to the game's much vaunted digital only status then it turned out a physical version (which I could've resold) was coming out after all. 🤣.