Need more details to really make sense of this.

There are some things in games that could be parses as annoying or core, depending on what you’re looking for. Like, some people might say not being able to quick save/load is horrible, and being sent back to a checkpoint on death is bullshit. But that’s fundamental to some game loops

Desktop: 0. It’s off. I close the browser when I’m done

Phone: the number says 64, but only 25 “active”. I should probably prune.

Rich people don’t want to give anything up.

Assholes don’t want their out-group to have anything nice. Even if it means they suffer.

Many people don’t know shit about fuck, and they’re just trying to get through the week.

My dad used to rant about how government should be run like a business,

Anyone who sincerely believes that is too fucking ignorant and or stupid to be taken seriously. They’re a hazard to themselves and their polity.

I think a plain cheese pizza is slightly different than a margherita pizza. It won’t typically have the basil leaves, and the cheese is more uniform.

I’m thinking of like dollar slice pizza. Like these https://secretnyc.co/seamless-dollar-cheese-slice/

But I’m not a pizza-ologist.

Speaking on behalf of a friend, as I prefer toppings: they discovered that a variety of things give them body problems, and it’s easier to just do a plain cheese pie than to try to guess if peppers are going to upset their body today.

The antithesis of a cheese pizza is a pizza with toppings. It’s an idiom, so I wouldn’t recommend thinking too hard on it.

I honestly forgot that game even existed!

Controversial take: doom 1 is better than doom 2. Doom 2 has a bunch of awful levels.

I didn’t really like doom2016 or eternal that much, either. Too much start-and-stop.

Microsoft and Bethesda are creatively incompetent. They don’t really want to say anything. They just want a funny theme park full of kitschy shit so they can pander to fans.

They’re fucking soulless morons.

The first fallout was interesting because it was pretty fresh. The 2nd was a bigger exploration, with some interesting questions about remnants. I don’t really remember 3 but it had some weird narrative problems, I think.

New Vegas actually asked a new interesting question: who rebuilds after?

And then 4 just shits the bed because Bethesda has no soul. It’s also mechanically a mess. Power armor in the intro, except it sucks? Fuck everyone who thought that was a good idea.

Most people don’t really care about abstract or long term things. You can tell them that buying the game supports bad stuff, and they could at least wait for a sale, but they’re no better than a toddler.

Business Idiots. Microsoft and other large corporations are run by idiots who are out of touch with customers and the product.

Microsoft should be broken up. None of these corporations should be allowed to get this big. It’s a simple solution, but it would make some rich people upset.

You are correct: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astoria

The one in queens is maybe he most famous, but I might be biased because I live nearby.

Played it a bit. Mouse and keyboard. Computer details:

Firefox 153.0, 
Operating System: Pop!_OS 24.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.12
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.115.0
Qt Version: 5.15.13
Kernel Version: 7.0.11-76070011-generic (64-bit)

• Sometimes clicking to attack… doesn’t. Not because of stamina, but feels like the input was lost. One-two-three, one-two-three, and then i can’t attack anymore. It’s not missing stamina, but you might want to add feedback when that is the case. Edit: Some areas might be no-combat and maybe I was on the border of one?
• Dodging is very stamina expensive
• Stamina regen is slow
• The dialogue is… passable. I might be an outlier, but I really don’t care about story until after I’m invested a little. The protagonist is kind of a weird mix of blank slate and has-a-personality, which is odd.
• Fetch quest for honey? …okay
• Why do i have to explicitly equip the sickle and pick? they’re in the inventory already. Would prefer that was automated.
• These starting bees are kind of sturdy. Seven or so whacks to finish them off seems excessive. They also have big iframes on their dodges. Even with the axe, they take quite a few hits. Feels like trash mobs should go down in at most one combo.
• Wasn’t able to get the riposte to work after the tutorial
• I prefer the estus model of healing. Have a set number until you hit a checkpoint. Is this going to turn into grind-detours to get crafting materials? The signposts only heal you once?
• There seems to be no benefit to fighting. No xp, no items. Guess I’ll just run past everything. Feels weird.
• Killed the big bee after getting the axe. Competent fight, but not that exciting. Not a lot of counter-play. Mostly just whacked it and walked away to let stamina recharge.
• Bandit-mook guy has incredible poise. Finishes his move even when I’m hitting him in the face with an axe. Also, like the bees, very sturdy. I only fought one because the bandits are too sturdy, and there’s no reward. Feels weird, though.
• Killed big bandit by spamming attack and potions. Don’t have enough dodges to feel good avoiding his smash. Not sure why I have 99 potions.
• I don’t get anything for killing him? No xp, no cool sword?
• I didn’t explore much because it didn’t seem like there was a point
• And then I lost interest

Games I’d want more inspiration from:

• CrossCode. Similar visual style. Combat system is more robust
• Titan Souls: If you want complicated boss fights
• Valdis Story: 2d side scroller, but has a rich combat system. It has animation canceling as a core concept, which feels great.

Overall it’s a very technically competent game - better than I could do - but it’s not enough to make me keep going after the big bandit.

Did you name it after the neighborhood in Queens? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astoria,_Queens

That might do things to your games discoverability.

Sometimes they give some people a few crumbs so they’ll fight other poor people instead of the rich.

I will continue not playing playstation, as I have for years. Fuck 'em.

I suppose. But I remember old games came on multiple disks.

I also think that chasing every higher graphics has reached diminishing returns. Style counts for more than fidelity, I think.

No.

• most people don’t know about it
• many actual children won’t care
• many “gamers” are little better than children

They should have had cross play with windows from the start. Fuck Microsoft.