Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

It’s that sense of agenda that bothers me. I just want to roam around Hyrule and explore at a leisurely pace. Try weird stuff. Experiment. It’s kept me from fully enjoying a couple of the Pikmin games as well. It just makes me nervous.

I mean, you can still do that.

Nothing stops you from taking entire cycles to goof off and explore.

I know, but then I just have to reset, and it doesn’t feel like I’ve actually accomplished anything. Part of this is minor OCD. Like, I HAVE to talk to every NPC in a LOZ game. If something happens where I have to re start my file, I have to go back and talk to every NPC I talked to since the last save so the game knows I did it. Also, I’m insane.

It’s the only console Zelda I haven’t cleared. I’ve probably started it 15 times over the years. Bought the cart in college before I ever read a review, and I even bought it it on WiiU VC thinking I was mature enough then to handle it. It’s a source of shame.

@HobbitGamer For me, the only exception was the GameCube version of Animal Crossing. But that was also due in some part to me wanting to unlock all the arcade games and so on.

@bimmy-lee Completely agreed on Majora's Mask. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I hated it, but even without suffering from any kind of OCD symptoms, I too didn't like to be rushed, and I really became massively frustrated at that annoying moon rushing in to ruin my day. I absolutely loved the movie Groundhog Day, but I don't really feel like playing a game that makes me feel like I'm in a groundhog day cycle myself...

By the way: concerning thinking in English, and knowing Dutch, the word "worst" isn't the only one that stood out in one of your conversations:

If you literally translate "head cheese" to Dutch, you'd get something that you'd DEFINITELY never want to eat...

My apologies in advance if you've read this, because I assure you, it will be impossible to un-know it:
Over here, "head cheese" is what a man gets/collects in a certain part of his nether regions, if he doesn't shower or bathe properly or frequently enough...

Gotta love the Dutch and their weird imagination...

@ThanosReXXX - Haha, oh man, so literal. I’m not a big fan of the edible head cheese, but I think I just found a reason to never consider it again. I think “frustrated” is the word I was looking for concerning MM. I just can’t enjoy the game. I like the dark tone, but the looming dread was too much for me.

@NintendoByNature - Cow tongue is a delicacy. I used to get amazing lengua burritos from a food kart. It took a couple visits to work up the courage, but once I did, I was pretty amazed. I thought it would be tough and grisly, but it was so tender it was barely solid.

I really liked Majora's Mask 3D when I finally played it a few months back. The time mechanic is fairly stressful at first but is fairly easy to work around later on. The only exceptions are the final two temples, but ironically the one where I came the closest to the moon crashing was when I was in Snowhead. That dungeon isn't challenging so much as it's a troll-fest. 🤪

The only Zelda games that I haven't played or beaten at this point in some form are Breath of the Wild and Four Swords Adventures on the GameCube. I sorta doubt the latter will surface again at this point.

@bimmy-lee im a big lengua fan myself. One of my best buddies growing up is Mexican and he introduced me to it. I was timid at first but haven't looked back since.

As for tonight's dish, since i know you love hearing what's on the docket for me. I'm making what my family calls, beans and macaroni. My grandmothers recipe that's been passed down for a couple generations. Its what you'd see in an Italian restaurant called pasta fagioli. Our take on it is cannelini beans , elbow macaroni or any small kind you like, lots of garlic, peas and seasonings. I tend to make pasta quite often. And i make my own " gravy " as the Italians call it or pasta sauce to the non Italians. When I have left over gravy from the pasta I made, i water down my gravy and make a base for the soup ( beans and macaroni). I can eat it just about every day. I shave my own pecorino romano and put lots of crushed red pepp on it. Delish

@bimmy-lee Yup, literal indeed. That's the Dutch for 'ya. And everybody over here knows it, so there's not a single soul (well, maybe a couple of innocent children) who doesn't know about it...

As for Majora's Mask: In my living room, on the side of a CD cabinet, hangs a small carry bag that I use to store all my N64 cartridges in, and sometimes I can almost feel that particular cartridge burning a hole right through it, as if to say "hey loser, come and finish me, you nervous wimp"...

So, I can definitely relate to feelings of failure concerning that particular game.

If my eleven years old self could reach the credits without understanding a single word of it, I’m sure you will be fine.

Give into another try and you’ll see it’s really not that bad. The sense of urgency is entirely fictional.

@NintendoByNature - Yes. Please. I’ll have three. Sounds amazing. My same Philly friend introduced me to red gravy. It was his grandmother’s recipe. He said the difference between gravy and marinara was that the gravy had to have some kind of pork product simmered in it all day. He used tenderloins at home, and then pig spines when he opened a food kart (and later a restaurant). I could eat that red gravy plain, like a bowl of soup. I used to help him in the evenings when he was getting his kart going and got paid in sandwiches and beer. Cheesesteaks, sausage and peppers, meatball subs, pork sandwiches. Good lord, this is too much. I’m on my way to your place. See you around 9:30.

@Morpheel Well, @bimmy-lee gave it another try as well many years later, and as he mentioned only several comments ago, it didn't really make much of a difference. Some games just don't gel with certain people. Perceived sense of urgency or not, once you get that feeling, it's already too late.

And besides that, even though I'm not a graphics-wh***, I still find it hard, or rather: harder, to pick up old games that I either don't like, or have bad memories of. Of course, it's the same engine as Ocarina of Time, and that game I've actually replayed plenty of times, but that one was magical from the start, so that feeling stays with me, and softens the edges of the rather crude graphics. With Majora's Mask, they certainly don't...

Well, he admits to having actual issues that prevent him from playing it.

@Morpheel - It blows my mind that you could play that game without speaking it’s language, or any LOZ game for that matter. That’s a sign of a high level of intelligence. I’ll try it again some time. I’ll probably quit again sometime. Maybe my kids can do it one day and atone for their father’s shame.

@ThanosReXXX - Ha, before I tore down my game room and remodeled it into living space, I had all my old consoles hooked up to CRTs, and all my old carts out for display. All but one that is. I also couldn’t stand the shame of it.

Edit - For the record, I was never diagnosed with anything. I struggled intensely when I was young with OCD tendencies, light switches, door locks, did that burn FEEL like a burn, etc, but it wasn’t until many years after I was able to overcome this that I even learned the term. Only a select few things now bring some of those tendencies back, but games can be one of them. Especially LOZ games.

@bimmy-lee yep I did an easy gravy this go round. No meat, so it's not a technical gravy but did the job nonetheless. We use pork neck bones in ours. Which after simmering for 10 hours becomes like Italian pulled pork. Sometimes in a pinch I'll use ground Italian sausage. Be here soon, I got beers too

@bimmy-lee I kind of just tried everything until something worked. Same with Pokémon.

It wasn’t a speed run that’s for certain haha.

Edit: It’s completely understandable, I know certain things like time limits and the sense of urgency can be really hard for some people, and well, what’s the point of playing a game if it makes you feel bad?

@Morpheel True, but if you by any chance have followed the entire exchange concerning the game, then you may also have noticed me mentioning that I more or less feel that same pressure, even without OCD. And I also hated that moon rushing in all the time. I don't like having to do things in such a particular set amount of time, in situations where said thing is supposed to be just an entertaining hobby.

I don't see myself as suffering from actual OCD or anything related to it, but I may have some light tendencies that overlap with it. My expressive need in this regard, is that games MUST be fun, and I absolutely MUST be able to make progress in them, if I put in the honest effort. In the past, failing to do that has resulted in many a broken controller, due to them magically colliding with a wall or a door...

I'm not that aggressive anymore, but I do still feel some frustration in certain games, when I have to replay a level dozens of times, because I either don't have the pinpoint coordination and/or accuracy, to do stuff in the exact way that a game asks of me. I consider myself to be a casual gamer, so I'll more than likely never "get gud", in all but a small handful of genres, that I play often enough.

In general, I can't be defeated in racing games, especially not arcade racers, in beat em ups, and in soccer games, but other than that, I can't think of many games that I was able to finish without having made a truckload of mistakes or succeeded at completing in one go.

Now that I'm typing this, it suddenly occurred to me that me having once being diagnosed as highly empathic might also be a factor in this. I often feel very strongly for other people's pain, sorrow or emotions, but also for my own, and when I feel that someone or something (as in: a game, in this case) is treating me in an unfair manner, then this frustrated sentiment comes bubbling to the surface before you know it.

Depending on the type of game, I will then either simply stop playing, or fight through it, until I can end the session on a (more or less) positive and/or high note. An urgency that has sometimes resulted in ridiculously long gameplay sessions. I remember one evening being so engrossed in completing one of these infernal levels in a game (can't remember which one, though), that I completely lost track of time, and when I finally finished the level successfully, I looked up, and saw the sun rise through my living room window...

@ThanosReXXX - I agree with the fun. I have no problem turning my back on a game I paid good money for it it turns out I don’t enjoy playing it. I love a good, but doable challenge. For the most part, I’m a functioning adult (as much as we all can be), it’s just that occasionally the issues I conquered in my past can bubble up in certain scenarios. Just like your empathy. My wife mostly laughs at me when it does, gives me a gentle ribbing, and then I realize I’ve slipped into the dark side and pull myself out. Unless I’m alone playing Majora’s Mask. Then I feel like I’m wallowing in it.

Edit - Thanks for understanding Morpheel.

@bimmy-lee the only play time I had was on my break. Work was a nightmare after that. But I’ll let you know.

This paragraph describes my recent experience with Mega Man X. I don't deny that it's a decent game, but I had to be in the right mood to play it. Some of those platforming sections and a few bosses weren't exactly "fun" for me. Aneurysm-inducing, maybe....

_{...And I'm not sure if I would've made it through the Sigma stages without some restore point abuse.}