FM Chiptune Musician | DX Complex Staff | SEGA, MSX and Retro Tech Dork | He/Him

Formerly _NetNomad@kbin.run
Microblogging at _NetNomad@oldbytes.space
https://netnomad.dxcomplex.com/

On mbin, it’s very easy to accidentally boost (retoot) posts, and mbin doesn’t seem to propogate undoing that. any boosts you see from this account when viewing on mastodon et cetera are finger fudges, sorry!

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: August 15th, 2024

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  • i suppose in the most literal sense, he’s a good leader because he inspires his subordinates to follow. no matter how ill-advised or hairbrained a plan seems, his crew will always follow through. granted those same ill-advised, hairbrained plans are a reason why many would argue he’s a bad leader, but the Romulan episode goes to great lengths to show how he never makes those kinds of decisions lightly, despite making them often. the alternate version of that same episode in SNW shows that a more measured, Starfleet response there just wouldn’t have worked, so there’s also an element of Doylist logic there- he’s a good leader because the writers say so, and his actions aren’t the best course of actions for their own sake as much as they are because they’re his actions.

    the movies definitely make him more fallible, and if Kurtzman-era Trek has one single theme, it’s the deconstruction and destruction of the infallible hero-captain archetype. but even then, Kirk being both The Greatest Captain and a space cowboy are load-bearing pillars of the Trek mythos at this point

    TL;DR kirk’s intuition has plot armor and you can’t retcon that without basically retconning all of Trek because of his in-universe and real-life mythic status. he’s an exceptional captain, and the exception that proves the rule








  • if your local music store lets you try before you buy, i’d try everything they let you. different instruments are more or less intuitive to different people, and it’s hard to know unless you try. in your case, digging languages, i would for sure also learn basic music theory so you know "what* you’re saying instead of just how. it’s not neccisary to know theory to play but it’s fun for it’s own sake and hey! you might be inspired to write something! back when i was in school, the free exercises on tonesavvy (used to be called emusictheory) were the recommended way to get started

    for habit building, you just gotta carve out the time and do it. once the novelty wears off, there are gonna be days when you don’t want to practice, and a habit forms when you push through that. you don’t need to practice for a long time every day, ten minutes is plenty as long as you’re doing it consistently. a weird thing about playing music also is that it works kind of like muscle where you exercise to get stronger but you get actually get stronger when you’re resting. if you find yourself getting frustrated, you can just put it down, and you might be suprised to find whatever you were stuck on today is easy tomorrow. but that only happens if you play today and tomorrow. it’s also always better to practice slow and then speed things up once it’s under your fingers. that ensures you have good form and you’ll ironically get things up to speed faster than if you just tried to go fast from the start. the metronome is your friend

    good luck and have fun!


  • In celebration of 30 years of Pokémon, we thought it would be fun to return to the ultimate versions of the original Pokémon adventures in the Kanto region with these special releases.

    Interesting that they consider these to be the ultimate versions and not LGPE. Not that I disagree, but considering LGPE is more expensive and more in line with the Pokémon company’s modern design philosophy, you’d think they’d be pushing a special edition of those instead

    also interesting that these are completely devoid of online trading and battling. could be neat for the kids today to experience things the old way- I remember it was so much fun when a new game came out and everyone had their handheld on them down to battle or trade- but for the genwunners who would otherwise predominantly be buying this, there goes it’s main selling point





  • if it’s the switch version of 3D World you’re emulating, have you tried Bowser’s Fury mode? imo 3D World is neat but Bowser’s Fury is absolutely phenomenal

    Penny’s Big Breakaway is on Steam and it has movement options very similar to Oddessy paired with Sonic-style rolling gameplay. I think the bosses are a noticable weak point but the levels are fantastic. if you like the momentum stuff, Spark the Electric Jester 2 (cutscenes but you can skip ‘em) and 3 and Rollin’ Rascal (early access) are excellent as well

    +1 for Kirby and the Forgotten World, magnificent game. if you feel particularly brave, the much maligned Balan Wonderworld is similar but with an emphasis on revisiting old levels with new powers ala LEGO Star Wars. i enjoyed it but most people did not so maybe save this one for a steep sale and a rainy day




  • i just rolled credits on Forgotten World (the one where you can become a car) last night and i was blown away. Forgotten World is largely a 1:1 conversion of the 2D games into 3D with the notable exception that you can’t float higher than your jump height, so that does raise the skill floor noticably. still, just getting to the end of any given level is easy-peasy, but some of the challenges and collectables are definitely tricky. the 3-star portal stages in particular can be a real challenge, and there’s also a post-game world i haven’t tried yet. i think the switch 2 version even has a post-post-game. ultimately, though, if challenge is an important factor for you, you’ll probably be better served by another game

    kirby and the amazing mirror deserves a shout-out for being difficult in it’s own unique way. it’s a metroidvania but many of the doors are one-way just like in regular kirby, so it’s easy to fuck up and go the wrong way and have to restart. the platforming and combat are both still very easy but that does you a fat lot of good when you hit a dead end!




  • it’s interesting, with CR not using daggerheart for their next big campaign, i had assumed they just wanted to sweep it under and rug and forget it happened. and then you hear they sold 2500% more than their projections. i’m not too familiar with the comings and goings of CR but i feel like there’s a story there, especially with them also bringing on a new DM when Matt Mercer basically is the brand. none of this is criticism, if they’re seeing success with both the game and the show and are happy then more power to them. and it’s always great to see anything else succeed in a market so thoroughly dominated by D&D. it’s just… i dunno, curious