78
The Italian town that banned cricket
(www.bbc.com)
And most of those people keep playing anyway lol
Do evil emperors dream of scout sheep?
Day 8.
Gus still hasn't noticed I replaced his palisman with a plushie.
I got the Resident Evil bundle from Humble and decided to finally give RE2make and RE3make a go. But before that, I replayed the original games on my PS1. The last time was quite a few years back... I remember learning English by playing RE3, lol.
Short review of each under spoiler (although they are very much spoiler-free)
spoiler
RE2 was a lot more... Boring than I remembered. Rooms are static, encounters are scripted, zombies are not really aggressive, and ammo is everywhere. I remembered pretty much nothing of the game outside of the main gist of the story and a few puzzle solutions, so it was an almost blind run. However, I still finished all scenarios with the item box overflowing with ammo and herbs, and I only died once at the beginning of the first scenario while I was still getting accustomed to the controls.
Despite the criticisms, it was still fun. The story was better than I remembered! At least Claire A + Leon B, which is more intertwined and definitely better written. Leon A + Claire B is a lot more straightforward, features fewer interactions between the cast members, and even has a glaring continuity error. Gameplay is pretty straightforward, fairly predictable, not many jumpscares - and it’s difficult to be frightened when you have enough ammo to clean the entire RPD station twice and keep some spare - but I had fun throughout.
The “zapping system,” as it’s called by the fans (basically the actions in the A scenario carrying forward in the B scenario), is greatly exaggerated. I can only remember three instances of choices carrying forward (using the cord in the eastern or western wing, leaving the machine gun or the item pack or both to the B character, and registering both characters’ fingerprints to open the secret door in the lab). In addition, the two A scenarios and the two B scenarios do pretty much the same thing and fight through the same rooms with slightly different item placement and enemy encounters. I honestly don’t think there’s enough “meat” to justify playing both scenarios with both characters unless you’re an RE fan and want to see everything the title has to offer. For the others, I’d recommend playing Claire A + Leon B and calling it a day.
Each scenario took about 2 hours to finish, so it took me 8 hours to complete all four scenarios and 100% the game.
RE3, on the other hand… Holy shit. Zombies RUN, Nemesis RUNS, and there’s a lot of randomization involved in how items and enemies spawn to always keep you on your toes. Sometimes it’s zombies, sometimes dogs, crows, or hunters - and maybe there’s the Nemesis thrown into the mix as well! The rooms are a lot more dynamic as well: while traversing the same rooms back and forth in search of the key items necessary to go forward, zombies keep pouring in, smashing windows, car doors, and even respawning after being killed. Compared to RE2, where a "cleared" room would stay safe until the end of the game, RE3 always makes a point in reminding you that the dead are in control of the city, not you.
There’s a decent amount of choices scattered throughout the game that alter how the events unfold, but as with the scenarios in RE2, I don’t think that the changes warrant a second playthrough unless you are a diehard RE fan. Fighting the Nemesis at the RPD entrance allows you to retrieve the STARS card earlier than intended; finding Carlos in the Restaurant or in the Press Office triggers a different Nemesis encounter; and the ending of the Clock Tower and Dead Factory is slightly different depending on your choices. There are other choices as well (some are spelled out by the game, while others are triggered depending on which location you go to first), but for the most part, it's just a slightly different cutscene and that's it.
Where the game shines, however, is the freedom of choice that the player is given. You can choose the order in which you explore different locations to retrieve key items; you can craft different ammo (and even specialize in one, giving you the ability to craft improved ammo for a specific weapon if you so wish); you can run from the Nemesis or fight it for additional rewards; and with the randomized enemy spawns and placement, even dying and reloading feels like a fresh experience. The improved controls (including a quick 180 turn and a tricky dodge mechanic) are the cherry on top.
The story wasn’t as interesting as RE2’s, in my opinion. Although I enjoyed the characters, the Ada-Sherry-Annette dynamic from the previous game was more fascinating than whatever the deal was with Nicholai. Despite that, I appreciated the throwbacks to RE1 (although I would’ve loved to see more in the RPD; Jill enters the police department, grabs the lockpick, gets out, never interacting with anyone or reacting to anything, which was a bit disappointing) and the additional insight into Umbrella.
My time count at the end of the game was 7 and a half hours, slightly shorter than the complete RE2 experience, but much longer than each individual scenario (and as I said, most of the scenarios involve passing through the same rooms and solving the same puzzles, so there’s a lot of repetition involved).
Overall, I’d give RE2 a 7.5/10 and RE3 an 8/10. Both were very much enjoyable and I’d still recommend them to modern players. Tank controls and fixed cameras may take a short while to grow accustomed to, but the entire game is masterfully built around them and they add to the experience, instead of detracting from it. Listening to the sounds and noises to check which enemies are in play becomes second nature, and before you notice it, you are completely engrossed in the game.
I hate that question so much. Why do I want to work here? I don't know, because I need the money and I found your job insertion?
I see the Player vs Player more as a mindset than an actual fight between players.
Tension and fighting between players are fun and can lead to interesting character development, if there's a narrative reason for them to exist, and for as long as the players are okay with it.
What I forbid is, the mindset. The players are a team and they need to stay together, act together, and rely on each other. No splitting the party if it's not necessary, no fights over loot, no backstabbing, or anything of that sort. Everyone is entitled to have fun.
Yeah, the price hike is fair, I don't think any developer has any problem with that.
The problem is that they broke the trust of developers, and I don't think that they'll ever recoup from that.
Hitchcock didn't make Birdemic
No, but he sure wishes he did.
For fuck's sake, y'all should stop this "enlightened centrist" bullshit whenever someone is slightly critical of the leftist candidate.
Trump sucks. It's incredible that he's even allowed to be a candidate for presidency after the shit he's done. He's dangerous for the US and dangerous for the democracy of the entire world. If there's some justice left in the US system, he will lose the elections and he will pay for his crimes.
Not liking Harris' speech doesn't make me an "enlightened centrist". It just means that I don't think her words were strong enough, or bold enough, to win her new voters, which should be the point of the presidential debate. I think she won because Trump's ineptitude will bleed him some voters, but I'm not willing to credit that to Harris' speech skills.
Did she? I listened to the debate and she sounded mid for most of it. She spent more time attacking Trump than she did answering the questions she was asked.
Sure, she fared better than her predecessor, but "not shitting her pants" is a low bar. Trump was definitely worse than her, but again, if the bar is "don't act butthurt when your opponent says your rallies are boring", then congrats, I guess.
Reading comments from both sides, it seems that the left sees her not being geriatric as a win; and the right thinks that Trump was unjustly treated (targeted questions, live fact-checking, etc...), which is absurd considering that (a) they also asked Harris difficult questions (fracking and Israel, for example, which she did have a hard time answering), and (b) he was given free reign to talk out of order more times than I can count.
I think Harris "won" because Trump sucked. He sidestepped questions regarding an abortion ban ("I haven't talked with JD about it" fucking lol) and Ukraine ("Do you want Ukraine to win the war?" "I want the war stopped" TWICE in a row, followed by "I know Putin really well" and a rant about the awesomeness of Victor Orban); he repeatedly told lies (post-birth abortion and pets-eating immigrants being the highlight) which were promptly caught by the live fact-checker, and even showed weakness and undecisiveness ("do you have a plan?" "I have concepts of a plan").
But those are blunders that Trump committed, not something that Harris should take credit for. Nothing I heard screamed of "masterclass" debate, and I doubt that it will give her an edge in the upcoming elections or sway electors one way or the other. After all, the people who lived under four years of Trump's presidency and watched January 6th unfold live, and still call themselves "undecided" are pretty much lying to themselves at this point.
This generation is already pretty weak, and it was hard to justify the original PS5 which, after a whopping four years, still has too few exclusive titles to justify the increased price point. Now they are asking for $700 (and they increased the controller's price, too), but there's still too few next gen titles, and it doesn't even come with basic features like a disc tray and a vertical mount. Not even a better form factor, it's the same old ugly case, but somehow bigger.
The only premium thing about this thing is the price tag. $700 dollars but €800, because apparently they are dominating the European market so much that they don't even have to try to sell it at an honest price point. With all those money you can just buy a PC. I honestly don't think that many people who are interested in the console market (which, historically, has always been a "low budget" entry into modern gaming) would be willing to spend so much money on one.
I guess we circled back to the PS3 era, when Sony got drunk with overconfidence. Only, this time they'll get away with it because their main competitor is somehow even more incompetent than them. I wonder if the handheld PC market will pose a threat to their dominance in the future - at the moment, it's a very small niche.
11
The Disciple v0.5 - Revamped Monk
(images4.imagebam.com)
In the past few months, I've been hard at working creating revamped versions of subpar classes for the original game: the Heroic Warrior (revamped fighter), the Highlander (revamped Barbarian), and this one's the Disciple, my revamped Monk.
As always, the purpose of my reworked classes is to make them more fun to play, giving more choices to the player both during the character creation process and in day-to-day play, and to raise their power level to a more acceptable standard, while also keeping as many of the core features as possible and not raising the bar of complexity.
Unfortunately, with DnD 2024 approaching I doubt that these classes will see much use, so unless I really need them for my weekly plays with my party, I doubt I'll keep working on them, as I think there's just not enough demand. For this reason, these classes are presented as-is, even if they are incomplete (the Disciple, for example, has perfectly functioning class features but no subclasses) for the folks who, like me, is considering sticking to 5e.
Ko Fi: https://ko-fi.com/taverntalesdnd
MEGA (pdf download/online pdf reader): https://mega.nz/file/jVVRDZ6Q#fQNh9zYdI07wRNGnKLdFYTiPV272yIKmztHzKe9JiPY
13
Highlander v0.5 - Revised Barbarian
(images4.imagebam.com)
Since DnD2024 is releasing soon and there's not much point in working on 5e classes anymore, I'm releasing everything I've created in the past few months, even if it's not finished.
The Highlander is my revision of the Barbarian. The revision aims at improving both the performance of the class (which, as most people know, was pretty much dead weight after lv~8) and the feeling during play (which means, having things to do other than raging and smashing stuff), while also keeping the core mechanics as close to the original source as possible, and without adding unnecessary complexity.
The class was meant to be played alongside my other homebrew classes, of which I've already released the Heroic Warrior (revamped Fighter). As you can clearly see, this homebrew is not finished: the class itself is functional, but there is only one subclass. I was planning on going back and adding new subclasses after I played a campaign as a Barbarian to get a general feel of how it plays, but I never got the chance and, with DnD2024 approaching, there's not much point anyway, as I don't think that people will play 5e classes anymore.
Having said that, I hope that you'll enjoy it. Feedback are always welcome, and I'm always curious to hear others' opinions on my design choices. Maybe one day I'll finish working on it!
PDF download/online reader: https://mega.nz/file/nYtmlSyY#DPwA0XtgV_p2GaWfxaXXPBKm5OtoWz0BDcrZm_mKUn8
Ko Fi: https://ko-fi.com/taverntalesdnd
12
Heroic Warrior v1.4 - Revamped Fighter
(i.imgur.com)
In the past few months, I have been working on revamped classes for DnD5e for personal use. This is my revamped Fighter, which I've played in a (still ongoing) campaign for the past few months and had a blast with.
Unfortunately, with DnD 2024 approaching, I see very little incentive in working on this still. I don't even think people will be interested in trying it with the new rules. I don't like DnD 2024 and the 2024 Fighter looks bland and boring to me, so I'll keep playing this one instead, but I don't see myself updating it further in the future unless I find a really broken combo that needs addressing.
So, this is kind of the end, and it's a bit bittersweet to me.
Please, enjoy :)
Imgur album: https://imgur.com/a/wiVrW5C
Online reader and PDF download: https://mega.nz/file/yYEmDJpS#s-nH0E5x_s5rLXHdvv8oGV79vAhxfKMy3xJ5KLM1sSs
Ko Fi: https://ko-fi.com/taverntalesdnd
42
Random map I made to test out Inkarnate
(i.imgur.com)
Inkarnate is giving away 10-days free Pro membership, so I took the bait and tried it. I decided to use the limited time to bring a very old concept of mine to life, which I originally conceived as a kid in high school. Overall, there's a lot of improvements to be made (especially since I decided to stick to the original concept as much as possible, which was... not very good to begin with lol), but I had a lot of fun and it allowed me to unwind a bit before going to bed, which was nice.
Not sure if I'll stick to Inkarnate Pro, however. Inkarnate is good, but it's web browser-only and subscription-only, which are both dealbreakers for me. I think I'll try Wonderdraft next!
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Aielman15
joined 1 year ago
I'm mildly curious, although I'm pretty sure that shipping fees + VAT to Europe will be prohibitive for my wallet lol