What are you playing?

[marurun]

Monkfish is tasty (in real life, even), but a pain to prepare.

[Arenegeth]

Now i know its been a few years but was the dialog always this... cringy?

Yes, yes it was...

I didn't notice how bad it was the first time around either, on account on being younger and generally having lower standards I suppose, but on a recent replay of the first game (as in like 4 years ago now) it was hard keeping the cringe away...

Anyway, I'm back at Shenmue, and almost at the cusp of the end of Disc 1 (again). This time I'll probably take a longer break at the end of the Disc, I want to avoid having the Christmas day get caught in the Warehouse skip rush like last time, and also so I can get the Eri pre-Christmas Notebook entry earlier, I can spare quite a few days, if my calculations at the end of my last failed playthrough were correct, but this longer break may force me to deal with Space Harrier and Hang On earlier than I expected. The Turbo controller I ordered for Space Harrier is finally here (as in the country), but hasn't been delivered to me yet, hopefully I'll have it by Monday, to make this monumental task a little bit easier.

I still do a daily Gym Leader run and farming of certain items (like Gold Bottle Caps) in Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu, I got all the Pokemon I can get without trading, except the Legendary birds (which I'm holding off on, until I get a Shiny Charm) and Dragonite which I'm slowly evolving rather than trying to catch it in the wild. In that spirit, and since I just got a Smartphone now, I was thinking of giving Pokemon Go a go for Meltan and Melmetal.

Well I thought I could do the minimal things necessary to get them, but it looks like a lot of work, especially if starting fresh, and I'm not willing to spend a dime on this game, never mind that I'm not too fond running around local monuments, Churches and Parks in the middle of the night (I have a reputation to uphold), so I can catch a Pokemon like a *redacted* person.

I'll give it another shot tonight, but it looks like trading with other people (which I need an online account on Switch for), or hacking (which I confirmed my Switch model qualifies for) are better options for now.

EDIT: I had my first dog walk with Pokemon go, and it seems a bunch of Pokestops and two Gyms are pretty much on my route anyway, with a few minor alterations. I managed to get to Level 4 by the end of the night and caught a bunch of pokes and got the Meltan quest activated.

Since I don't really have the money to spare on a Switch online account or an RCM Jig for hacking my Switch right now (or on pretty much anything really). I don't lose anything (besides my dignity, well what's left of it anyway) by going by the Pokestops and starting tomorrow hopefully the two Gyms, since I'm walking the dog past those places anyway, and as long as I don't have to spend real money on anything. So far I lucked out and only got weird looks from a street cleaner at my final stop, but I'm pretty sure my ridicule will expand adequately if I do this every night.

EDIT2: So... I was transferring some of the Pokemon I got on my dog walk, from Pokemon Go, to Pokemon Let's Go, and I got something called a 'Mystery Box'. I used it without looking up what it does first, and a 30 minute timer started. So now I look it up and I find out that it makes Meltan pop! I get dressed and rush to my closest spot (so I wouldn't waste it), caught a bunch of them including a Shiny! Now evolving it is a whole nother matter!

I got 39 Candy out of the 400 I need to evolve (the Shiny of course) to Melmetal, it may take some time, but I'm on the path to getting Melmetal also.

The price I paid was too steep if you ask me, it was morning now, tons of people, and no dog to give me some cover, complete ridicule, pretty sure some of the locals are already writing songs and making up nicknames about me!

In any case, this was A LOT easier than I thought, reading up on it online made it sound so complicated, oh well hopefully I can be done soon and then I can delete Pokemon Go from my phone, though is still useful for getting some other Pokemon, is not necessary for anything else, and I don't want to deal with it more than I have to.

EDIT3: Turns out my morning walk of shame was for nothing... The Meltan's would have popped around me at home if I had stayed, so I ended up wasting time instead of saving, since you don't need to be at a Pokestop for it to work...

But that's OK, I got a ton of Meltan's including a Shiny, and even if the event is running out soon (I can use another Mystery Box in 3 days) I can raise my candy over time by budding up with a Meltan and walking around, so is not a big deal, a Shiny Melmetal is just a matter of time.

[ZenErik]

Just finished Kingdom Hearts 3 and Tales of Symphonia before that. Started Xenoblade Chronicles X last night. So far so good, but the character creation left a lot to be desired.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Last night I had some time to myself for once and I gave apex legends a shot and I have to say that it was, by and large, the most disturbing experience I have ever had in a video game.

My first match had an adult man with his mic on, a young child screaming in the background, a woman screaming at the child and this guy is just flat affect, monotone going through the motions of the game as if nothing is happening. The screams were very visceral and constant throughout the match. I was kind of shell-shocked.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Yeah...I indulge in video gaming to retreat from humanity for a bit. If I wanted an experience like that, I’d go volunteer in a crisis center or something. It’d probably be more enjoyable than listening to something like that - completely helpless to do anything about it - during a video game and, if I was volunteering, at least I’d be helping people....

I’ll stick to single-player retro games, thank you very much.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Yeah...I indulge in video gaming to retreat from humanity for a bit. If I wanted an experience like that, I’d go volunteer in a crisis center or something. It’d probably be more enjoyable than listening to something like that - completely helpless to do anything about it - during a video game and, if I was volunteering, at least I’d be helping people....

I’ll stick to single-player retro games, thank you very much.

I wouldn't have been so upset about it if there was a report button. It was weird. I love multiplayer games, but that was definitely the first time I've come across some creepy stuff.

[Arenegeth]

I wouldn't have been so upset about it if there was a report button. It was weird. I love multiplayer games, but that was definitely the first time I've come across some creepy stuff.

If you're been playing for years and only now you got something like that consider yourself very lucky.

There was a time where some guy on Xbox Live send pictures of himself doing Acid (or whatever it was) to everybody that was in the previous match with him. Then another time, when what sounded like a 12 year old was screaming at the mic (the player) where another child (of undetermined age) was screaming in the background. That was just a small sample of what you would experience in Xbox Live back in the mid to late Noughties.

So I learned very early on to always mute everybody unless I personally know them, and of course I now know not to play Multiplayer in general, but that's another matter.

There probably is some report button buried somewhere, but I'm not sure what you experienced would even qualify as against any rules, sounds like the typical trailer trash family to me...

[prfsnl_gmr]

I’m playing a lot of things, but one of them is Konami Pixel Puzzle Collection. It is a completely free, mobile Picross game released to celebrate Konami’s 50th Anniversary. On the one hand, it’s pretty great. It is probably the best Picross game I’ve ever played - and I’ve played a lot of them - and it is overflowing with Konami fan service. The background music is Konami arcade game themes, and all of the puzzles reference classic Hudson and Konami games. On the other hand, it’s extremely depressing because it makes you realize how many great, classic video game IPs Konami is just sitting on and will never do anything with ever again...

[BoneSnapDeez]

Still waiting on Esper Dream 3.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Still waiting on Esper Dream 3.

I completed a puzzle based on Nectaris, and my heart just broke. Also...I’m pretty certain we’ll never see a Kitten Kaboodle 2...