Flamekebab
@Flamekebab@piefed.social
- Comment on ‘Escape From Tarkov’ Coming To Steam In the Coming Weeks 2 hours ago:
What's even the point of cheating in multiplayer?
- Comment on Bridget Phillipson: parents must do more about bad behaviour and attendance in schools 11 hours ago:
This feels like tackling a symptom rather than the disease. Not that one shouldn't sometimes treat symptoms, but it would be good if it could be part of a holistic treatment plan, so to speak.
- Comment on Safety and space at risk as SUVs reach 30% of car market in English cities, researchers warn 2 days ago:
I grew up around big vehicles in the countryside. They were small compared to the nonsense I regularly see on our roads today.
I'm baffled as to the appeal of these monstrosities. They're a pain in the hole to park, to drive, to maintain, and to fuel.
This goes double for those idiotic pickups that also have space for 5+ people in the cab. Unless you're transporting a work detail between building sites there is no way you need something like that.
It's bad enough that I have to have a car for where I live. Having one that's also a huge money pit and wildly impractical just takes the piss.
At least get something fun if you want to burn some money! Let's see some hotrods!
- Comment on Vaccine warning for England as one in five children start school unprotected 3 days ago:
Would it kill us to have a party say "No more post-truth nonsense. This ends now."?
- Comment on Mounjaro maker pauses shipments of weight-loss drug to UK 3 days ago:
I'm a bit more of a realist. If a solution has been given a fair attempt and doesn't work then it's not a solution:
This also includes not relying on any medication to lose weight, which ultimately is avoiding the main issue at hand.
This doesn't achieve the goal. Effectively this boils down to "treat weight gain as a moral failing". Let's assume it is (I don't think it is, but let's just assume it is for the sake of this line of argument) then why haven't we already solved it? The problem persists and is more prevalent than ever.
Taking that approach does not achieve the desired results.
Much like choosing not to look both ways before crossing a one-way street, being in the right doesn't matter if the end result is the same.
I am an existentialist and strongly believe that all people should take responsibility for their lives.
The deck is stacked and people are playing the hands they're dealt. Vast resources have been poured into fucking with people both chemically and psychologically to form poor eating habits, addictions, and limit economic choices. Personal responisbility is of course important but things are a smidge more complex than that.
- Comment on Tony Blair attends White House meeting with Trump on postwar Gaza 3 days ago:
"War" feels overly generous. Also fuck Tony Blair.
- Comment on Mounjaro maker pauses shipments of weight-loss drug to UK 3 days ago:
Whilst I don't disagree I would argue that it can be very useful because there are more moving parts to the equation. If it means someone can lose a load of weight to stave off diabetes and buy more time to build a healthier lifestyle then that's arguably a good thing, as an example.
In my family's case it meant we were not only able to have a child but to do so without IVF. My wife has indeed regained a load of weight but my daughter wouldn't exist without it.
- Comment on Best Co-Op Games? 3 days ago:
Another vote for KeyWe!
- Comment on Infinite Backlog | A Video Game Collection Tracker 4 days ago:
so how do you know you're going to enjoy the games you're buying if they sit in your library past the refund window?
Knowing that about any given media before consuming it is an impossible ask, so that's an impossible ask to start with. I make my purchasing decisions based on a combination of developer reputation (e.g. FTL was great and Into the Breach was awesome too), reviews (not from any major game sites, I'm talking about friends and similar), and experience with the genre.
Also, as I've said elsewhere, I'm spending less than the cost of a pint of beer. Any given game doesn't have to deliver all that much to justify its cost.
Even if I don't enjoy it, perhaps my wife will, or eventually my daughter.
Do you not worry they may end up being unplayable bloat "polluting" your library?
I don't really understand the concept of what you're asking. I understand the words but the emotional meaning is completely lost on me. There's a load of assumptions underpinning it, from what I can see. Is someone else supposed to be looking at my library and drawing conclusions about my character based on it? If so, I couldn't possibly care less. Or is it a convenience thing, like finding a game would be hard? There's text search and there's not an insurmountable quantity regardless.
Or something else? I don't get what you're asking, sorry.
Or do you have a super broad taste and you enjoy everything?
I don't know how broad the average taste is, I'm afraid I have no point of comparison. I've played most genres over the last 30+ years and there's only a few I find tedious (sports games, medieval fantasy-themed stuff, simulation-focussed stuff). What is a normal breadth of taste?
I really enjoy looking at my library and going: "Damn, I could launch any of these games right now and have a great time!" which wouldn't be true if I have a bunch of shit I don't enjoy playing and can't refund.
Whilst I have some stuff that I wouldn't enjoy, most of what I have was bought because it had some appeal to me. I don't buy many games, I've just been buying them for decades so it adds up.
I prefer having a large selection so there's always potentially new fun things hiding in my collection. Knowing everything about it removes some of the mystique, essentially.
It's also worth noting that I don't know what I'll enjoy anymore. When I was a child I really enjoyed management games, for example, so on the one hand they have nostalgic appeal, but on the other I have enough to manage in my life now so find them exhausting. There's also an element of enjoying things that others don't - I spent a lot of time playing Godus and listening to audiobooks. People do not like that game!
You can perhaps start to see why I don't like the concept of a "backlog" - my perspective isn't built that way!
- Comment on Infinite Backlog | A Video Game Collection Tracker 5 days ago:
I really don't think it's a particularly hot take. The very term "backlog" normally refers to obligations. Plenty of people suffer from productivity guilt and applying that kind of framework to something that by its very nature is designed to be unproductive feels like a dreadful idea to me.
- Comment on Infinite Backlog | A Video Game Collection Tracker 5 days ago:
The "point of the product" isn't to provide theoretical novel entertainment value by sitting, unplayed, on my digital shelves. Bold take here, but I'd suggest the point of a video game is to be played.
I see it as its job is to provide an option for entertainment. To use another flawed analogy, whilst ideally I'd like to wear everything in my wardrobe at least once I don't feel bad that my jeans see much more use than my tuxedo. I don't avoid buying a pair of shorts because I already have plenty of shirts. My goal is to have a good selection of options available in the hope that I'll never find myself short of something suitable.
I grew up playing games in the '90s. I remember running out of new things to play. It was miserable!
So I make a point of having a large library so there's always things hiding in there that I might enjoy. The last thing I want is to have played everything in my collection. The very notion of a "backlog" is strange to me. It's a library or a collection, not an obligation. Trying to min/max it doesn't feel particularly healthy framing to me.
- Comment on Infinite Backlog | A Video Game Collection Tracker 5 days ago:
Fair enough - I'm only aware of the sales where things are discounted enough to trigger my IsThereAnyDeal notifications!
I may need/want to buy with the same money.
Most of my purchases are when the price is low enough to essentially be a rounding error in my spending. I'm rather stingey like that!
- Comment on Infinite Backlog | A Video Game Collection Tracker 5 days ago:
I know they exist (the sales by topics) but my emphasis was on "most".
And just like weight and fashion changes for shirts, I may change my schedule and interests not to fit games I bought years ago.
Where one draws the line on min/maxing is deeply personal. I'm happy to take a risk that my tastes will remain close enough to justify the purchase, evidently you feel otherwise. Neither of us are wrong (other than you, obviously - we're arguing on the internet so I need to be needlessly confrontational, it's the law or some old charter or something).
I was mostly replying because I don't think your way is wrong but I don't think mine is either. I have at least a thousand games in my collection. Unless something really enticing is released that calls to me (rare) then I always have fresh experiences waiting in my library. It's probably cost a few thousand pounds over nearly twenty years and I feel that's a reasonable trade-off to have that facility.
It's not the result of frivolous spending or poor impulse control. It's a deliberate choice to min/max in a different direction. I too use IsThereAnyDeal and slowly hoover up titles that I've got my eye on. I rarely immediately play things I pick up!
- Comment on Infinite Backlog | A Video Game Collection Tracker 5 days ago:
get your backlogs under control
Why would I want to deplete my entertainment options?
That's like attempting to watch everything on a streaming service. The goal would be to run out of novel entertainment, which seems antithetical to the point of the product.
- Comment on Infinite Backlog | A Video Game Collection Tracker 5 days ago:
I may be from another generation (I am in my 40s), but I don't get the point of spending money on a title I don't know if I will have ever time or interest to play.
The price isn't static. If one buys during a sale then it's available whenever one feels like playing. Much like stocking up on shirts during a sale at a clothes shop - clothing options are then available at home. Of course buying games one isn't interested in would be strange behaviour but I don't think anyone else is suggesting that's normal behaviour.
Also, this feeds stale mechanics, since most titles are bought in bulk during sales that are usually centered around game categories.
Aren't most sales seasonal?
- Comment on To the dismay of sweaty 'movement kids,' Battlefield 6 is nerfing Call of Duty sliding and jumping to maintain a 'traditional Battlefield experience' 1 week ago:
It feels like an additional layer of mechanics that I didn't sign up for. I used it as necessary when playing Titanfall 2 but didn't care for it there either!
- Comment on To the dismay of sweaty 'movement kids,' Battlefield 6 is nerfing Call of Duty sliding and jumping to maintain a 'traditional Battlefield experience' 1 week ago:
Interesting.. I felt like I was the only person that doesn't care for that kind of movement in shooters.
- Comment on Who decides when and where you work? The battle is raging in Whitehall, and the result may affect us all 1 week ago:
Presenteeisn is such bollocks. If you don't trust me to do the work then I'll work somewhere that does.
- Comment on Young chatty workers disturbing older colleagues ‘not age harassment’, tribunal rules 1 week ago:
It would be interesting to find out whether the younger colleagues were more productive.
Also why the hell wasn't the older staff member allowed to work from home if all she had to do was make calls?
- Comment on ‘Running riot through graves’: King Charles urged to protect Goodwin Sands from dredging 1 week ago:
Prince Charles might technically be the reigning monarch but I don't know if I'll ever think of him as "King Charles".
- Comment on Parallel Empires 2 weeks ago:
Laptops used to have parallel ports, what happened‽
- Comment on Should UK.gov save money by looking for open source alternatives to Microsoft? You decide 2 weeks ago:
The best time was decades ago. The second best time is now.
I remember being incensed that rather than use OpenOffice, which had support for Welsh, instead we paid MS through the nose to add it.
- Comment on Facial recognition vans to be rolled out across police forces in England 2 weeks ago:
Some bastard who's presumably responsible!
- Comment on Trump administration accuses UK of failing to uphold human rights 2 weeks ago:
s/accuses/praises/g
- Comment on what are in you're top 3 favourite games of all time? 3 weeks ago:
Funny in that it has moments of levity. It's not wall-to-wall misery even if it's filled with tragedy.
- Comment on what are in you're top 3 favourite games of all time? 3 weeks ago:
Given that this is Lemmy and we have advanced technology - I hope OP edits the title to fix it.
- Comment on what are in you're top 3 favourite games of all time? 3 weeks ago:
Probably:
- Fallout 2
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
- Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
Fallout 2 isn't as refined and tight as Fallout but I personally enjoy it more. It's arguably far too big but as I've played it so many times (unusual for me - I'm usually a one-and-done person when it comes to time sink RPGs) that isn't a bad thing. I enjoy the writing, mechanics, and atmosphere. Also I voice a robot dog in a mod for it.
Red Alert 2 is the best C&C game ever. I do not care for any of the 3D ones and Red Alert 1 is rather too difficult for me. However RA2 I have finished on hardest difficulty several times. I've never really bothered with the multiplayer for it outside of co-op because I don't play to be competitive. I tend to take my time and like it that way.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is maybe my favourite point and click RPG. I go back to it every few years and it always sucks me in. I know most of the puzzles off by heart but I'm more there for the sense of escapism and gentle humour. There's other amazing point and click games but for whatever reason this one really speaks to me. It's not even a nostalgia thing - I've only ever played the 2009 director's cut! I'm old enough to have played the '90s version but never did.
Honourable mentions:
*Startopia
*The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
*Theme Hospital
*What Remains of Edith FinchStartopia's music, humour, and gameplay are all top notch. Runs on a potato, makes me laugh, and features my old pal, Arona.
BoI:R is great. I've put a ridiculous number of hours into it. The latest DLC has made it a bit too big for my tastes but in general I enjoy it a great deal.
Theme Hospital is like Two Point Hospital but tighter, funnier, and prettier. Lots of fun.
What Remains of Edith Finch is art. It's funny, moving, tragic, and beautiful. I encourage everyone to play through it. It won't take that long - a few hours. Such a fantastic experience. Gone Home is pretty damn good too.
- Comment on what are in you're top 3 favourite games of all time? 3 weeks ago:
I gave Chrono Trigger a fair whack and just got bored. I suspect JRPGs just aren't for me.
- Comment on Journey times up, deaths down: Welsh 20mph speed limit still divisive two years on 3 weeks ago:
It's a great way to tell whether someone has empathy or not. Lots of drivers either cannot or will not entertain the notion that there might be other people around them who they share space with.
To them having to slow down in built up areas is an affront. Anyone else on or near the road is an inconvenience, not another person with equal or greater need than them.
Why should they have to slow down? Children shouldn't be on bikes or walking! They're going to get hurt! Dog walkers? They should be somewhere else - who cares where, just not here! Adult pedestrians? Why don't they have cars? Or probably more accurately they don't think about them at all, because that would require a level of self reflection that they're not well practiced in.
Entitled fucking toddlers. We devote vast resources and space, more than any other means of transport, but that's not enough. They should be allowed to drive wherever they want, as fast as they want, in as large a vehicle as they want. Anything less is oppression, apparently. Me me me me.
It particularly irks me how often I see people speed in my town because the average speed is about 15mph. They'll shoot off and I'll trundle along only to find them waiting at the next junction. There's literally zero point in going faster - it's more dangerous for those around them and it's less fuel/energy efficient. There's a reason I regularly get 4.4 miles per kWh - because I'm not constantly gunning it to the next set of lights.
That said we really need to rework some of our roads to discourage these dickheads. Add cycling paths and narrow the roads, put bottlenecks in, etc.. A bit of enforcement wouldn't go amiss either, particularly around areas like schools and suburbs.
Perhaps there's no one else sharing the space at the moment but if drivers can't behave themselves then there never will be. You cannot always be in that much of a fucking rush - if you are then sort your life out and stop making it everyone else's problem.
- Comment on Health experts urge ban on school materials backed by food, drink and gambling firms 3 weeks ago:
Jesus, that's been allowed all this time?
Have we no shame?