solitaire
@solitaire@infosec.pub
- Comment on Have you ever had a phone call interrupted by a 3rd party voice saying "this call is being recorded"? 5 months ago:
Oh god, I really hope my phone doesn’t do that when it records. The recording button is on the screen during calls and I accidentally hit it all the time.
- Comment on Life is Strange: Double Exposure - Announce Trailer 6 months ago:
I’m surprised at how hard seeing Max again hit me. I don’t have much interest in playing a new Max game, but I still got unreasonably emotional dredging up memories of the first game.
- Comment on Sequel to Star Control 2 - The Ur-Quan Masters 7 months ago:
Remember that other sequel with puppets?
puppets sounds cool actually
- Comment on Cyberpunk 2077 director thanks fans as the game hits a 95% positive review rating on Steam 7 months ago:
I played it a couple of years ago, before a lot of the patches, and still thought it was one of the better games I have never finished.
spoiler
There is this quest line where a character is abducted, raped, tortured and kills herself after you rescue her. Afterwards, the main character and another are on a balcony and smoke, still processing the horrors they’ve witnessed. I had been off the smokes for a few months at that point, but still needed to go outside and do the same.
I uninstalled shortly after. Not out of disgust, I actually appreciated the game making me feel something, but it just felt right to stop at that point. - Comment on ‘Furiosa’ First Reactions Say It’s a Stunning Powerhouse (But No ‘Fury Road’) 7 months ago:
It’s not that it’s CGI that really bothered me, it’s that it’s not good CGI. I got the same feeling watching the trailer as I did the Hobbit.
- Comment on Telltale Games Releases New Screenshots Of The Wolf Among Us 2 Alongside Development Update 8 months ago:
Yeah, one of the most soulless and boring games I’ve played. The Expanse seemed like such a good property to adapt into a Telltale game too.
If you’re looking for a good sci-fi Telltale style game, Star Trek: Resurgence came out around the same time from a studio of former Telltate employees and it is an absolute joy for anyone who misses 90’s Trek.
- Comment on Telltale Games Releases New Screenshots Of The Wolf Among Us 2 Alongside Development Update 8 months ago:
I really enjoyed The Wolf Among Us, but given how terrible their Expanse game was I’m not holding my breath.
- Comment on Descent 3 has been made open source 8 months ago:
I actually didn’t realize there was a Descent 3 for some reason, I’ve only played 1 & 2. They’re the sort of game I can just jump in for 20 minutes and have fun but all the back tracking through the levels makes me feel sick playing any longer.
- Comment on Gameplay mechanics were also a lot better with more replayability. 8 months ago:
Young gamers don’t know the pain of a BSOD and the interminable wait getting back into game on an IDE hard drive. Even a CTD was a nightmare.
- Comment on Gameplay mechanics were also a lot better with more replayability. 8 months ago:
This is restricted to a small part of modern gaming, though. In indie games-
Yeah, no, maybe the fact that you had to immediately jump to indie games should have been a hint that it’s not a small part.
- Comment on Gameplay mechanics were also a lot better with more replayability. 8 months ago:
The level of quality and number of bugs depends a lot on the era you’re talking about, as well as the platform. As a PC gamer from the 90s, much of my technical literacy came about from trying to coax games to work. My experience with console gaming was usually much more hassle free, though I have far less experience with it and don’t have a modern point of comparison (last console I even used, not even owned, was the PS3).
My real point of “it was better in the old days”, is the industry learning to exploit addiction. It’s everywhere, and it’s not just gambling. The longer you play the more likely you are to pay so even without loot boxes and the like, games are taking as much out of casino playbooks as possible. It’s fucking revolting and should be criminal.
As someone who has had problems with addiction of various kinds in the past, it’s so blatant to me. I can feel it playing into my vulnerabilities and it makes my blood boil. I avoid most gaming these days because I know if I let it become a habit, the next time life knocks me down I’ll fall victim to this.
- Comment on Ultimate Chronological Star Trek Viewing Guide 8 months ago:
nah
- Comment on Ultimate Chronological Star Trek Viewing Guide 8 months ago:
I love the website layout so much lmao
- Comment on Ultimate Chronological Star Trek Viewing Guide 8 months ago:
It’s neat but chronological seems like a psychotic way for someone new to Star Trek to get into it lol
ENT then STD, yikes.
- Comment on What games do you replay regularly/annually ? 9 months ago:
Just a heads up if you do try it, I mean the original not Catalyst. The sequel constantly kills that flow state with all the annoying intrusions you’ll see from other AAA open world games. It’s not the worst game ever, I did finish it, but it was the last time I bought something on release.
- Comment on What games do you replay regularly/annually ? 9 months ago:
Mirror’s Edge - I usually turn the voices off and just run. Once you’re in the flow it’s so calming, and it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.
- Comment on Discovery will be the first Star Trek show in half a century to end without a single Jonathan Frakes appearance 9 months ago:
It has been a long, long time since I watched watched Andromeda but I remember always thinking it might be on the verge of something interesting then it seemingly forgetting what it was setting up and moving on to something boring again. Besides, I have always had a soft spot for dodgy look sci-fi action adventure from the 90s/00s.
Also I had a crush on Lexa Doig.
That last season was especially painful though, my god.
- Comment on Discovery will be the first Star Trek show in half a century to end without a single Jonathan Frakes appearance 9 months ago:
I actually caught up on S4 recently, but unfortunately did not like it. S3 was actually the one I enjoyed the most of the two, if only because I thought it was really amusing that they just decided to do Andromeda.
- Comment on Discovery will be the first Star Trek show in half a century to end without a single Jonathan Frakes appearance 9 months ago:
It reminded me a lot of Stargate Universe, a complete tonal whiplash that was clearly imitating other popular shows rather than a continuation of the franchise. I was pretty kind to it in the beginning because SGU got pretty good after I got over it not being Stargate as well, but Discovery S2 completely killed any hope I had.
- Comment on What games do you recommend to play with a girlfriend 9 months ago:
It Takes Two would be my introduction for a partner who doesn’t game very much. Co-op, easy to play, fun in a really low stakes way with a great story. I had tons of fun with the game playing with an ex.
Raft is another I played with an ex that was a lot of fun. It’s a very chill co-op survival game where you build up your boat.
- Comment on How does employing a rapist not constitute an unsafe work environment for female employees? 10 months ago:
If you aren’t going to find a new job, document any inappropriate behavior. Talk to the other women and get them onboard. Let them know who he is. It wont take much to have him out on his ass if he does anything. Bring up his conviction when you report misconduct as well.
There are plenty of jobs he can work that aren’t with the best friend of his victim.
- Comment on What are some hidden indie gems nobody knows about? 10 months ago:
Citizen Sleeper - From the same publisher as The Pale Beyond, it’s another one of those story games that borders on visual novels. It’s a game about precarity and personhood set on an anarchic, decaying space station. Gorgeous art, fantastic soundtrack and it’s uniquely hopeful. Might be favourite game of the last few years.
- Comment on Why is TikTok seen as privacy invading and bad, but Facebook is fine? 10 months ago:
TikTok is owned primarily by western investors and it’s board is majority American. Usually I would be here to give the contrarian opinion that the government that is most likely to harm you is your own and that the majority of people would be better off with a non-cooperating country having your data. However, TikTok is just as likely to hand over user data to the US as Facebook is. It’s the worst of both worlds.
- Comment on [Discussion] Do you have franchise fatigue? Or is there still a franchise that you enjoy seeing? 10 months ago:
Discworld has basically a perfect track record with me and it still hit franchise exhaustion. Never read a bad Discworld book and I love Pratchett, but at some point I just subconsciously decided that it was enough. Maybe one day it’ll wear off, but I’ve never felt a desire to finish the series even though I’m more likely to enjoy another Discworld book than a random new author/series.
- Comment on [Discussion] Do you have franchise fatigue? Or is there still a franchise that you enjoy seeing? 10 months ago:
Yes, I do.
I’ve grown to the point of exhaustion with Marvel where I wont choose to see anything new on my own. They still make things I enjoy, like Loki, but unless a friend asks me to see it I wont even consider it. This isn’t just a superhero or quality thing either. I will still at least consider something by DC even though it has had a far worse track record in terms of me enjoying their output (though it’s still at a significant disadvantage).
Star Wars was a really early example for me starting to lose patience with franchises. As a kid, I devoured Star Wars content. I watched all the movies, read the EU, played the games, excitedly showed up to the theater for Episodes 1 & 2. But in the three years between 2 & 3 I was tired of it, and ended up seeing it after the movie came out on DVD because a friend put it on at their place. This is despite a very high success rate - I liked the EU stuff I was reading, I enjoyed Episode 1 (and to a lesser extent 2), I loved the games. Episode 3 did end up being a miss for me, but I think it might have been the first and it came after my exhaustion with the franchise.
- Comment on Steam has a new hit game, and it’s Pokémon with guns 10 months ago:
tbh all I remember about Digimon is the movie uses Kids in America by Kim Wilde and how much I enjoyed the song
- Comment on Steam has a new hit game, and it’s Pokémon with guns 11 months ago:
I truly cannot think of a less appealing pitch than “Pokemon with guns”. You’ve just made the original premise worse.
- Comment on [Kind of weekly thread] What have you been watching? 11 months ago:
Not much these days at all. I’m not sure if less stuff is just coming out, or I’m interested in less of the stuff that’s coming out, but the last six months or so has been pretty dire. Looking at my tracker the last episode of a new show I watched was the finale of Archer in mid-December. I don’t even particularly like Archer. It used to be I’d basically track what day of the week it was by what show just dropped an episode.
- Comment on The Weekly 'What are you playing?' Discussion 11 months ago:
I hate that a lot of the ones with a progression settle on XP to unlock tiers of cars rather than money and buying them too. I liked going to the used car dealer ship in Gran Turismo and seeing what I could afford.
Contemporary racing games literally just throw cars at you in hope to make it fun by constantly giving you new toys.
Forza Horizon 5 is bizarre for this. It has an acquisition system, but right after the intro you pick one of three cars, all new and not cheap. Then you get a custom rally car from the next race. A bunch of unlocks are going to give even you more cars afterwards, and will keep doing so regularly.
Like hang on, maybe let me work up from one of your cheap, older cars first and work my way up?
But this is also the game that unironically calls you “superstar” from the jump and sucks you off constantly.
- Comment on The Weekly 'What are you playing?' Discussion 11 months ago:
I dug my old Logitech Driving Force GT and blew off the dust. I haven’t gotten into a new (to me) racing game since Gran Turismo 5. The hardcore simulationist trend doesn’t interest me, I miss proper career modes and I have just had some awful bad luck with games being broken. I just occasionally revisit some classics.
So after many enthusiastic recommendations I grabbed Forza Horizon 5. My first impressions were great. The intro was a lot of fun, with the big set pieces causing me to fight my wheel as it bucked after being long out of practice.
But this was not representative of the actual game. The vast majority of the content is filled by fairly normal races with long stretches driving to them, back and forth across the same stretches of empty open world. It’s sort of like a Ubisoft game, but just cars.
This still could have been great. I like the driving model well enough, there is a good selection of cars and environment, while bland, is certainly much less of an eyesore than what awaits me if I go back to play Need for Speed: Most Wanted for the umpteenth time.
I’ve got some criticisms of the actual racing (the way it generates opponents and their vehicles sucks, the tracks are boring), but what really killed it for me was this slow build, eerie discomfort that built up in the back of my mind over hours until it became overwhelming. The vibes are fucked.
This is Fortnite, the racing game. It’s full of cameos and tie ins with influencers. Brands are plastered everywhere. Everyone talks in this creepy, corporate approved “wholesomeness” where every is aware of how “epic” what they’re doing is. There is a really uncomfortable tension between this huge festival that completely empties Mexico of pedestrians and how much the game fetishizes Americans.
I wanted to scream during a sub-plot where you race a bunch of rich douche bags who are beefing with some guy at the festival. The game throws out shit like “they shouldn’t be discriminated against for their money, they can help the fact they are rich” and talks about fucking therapy. All the writing is this bad, I hate every single character in these inexplicably unskippable cutscenes.
The radio selection is dogshit too.