Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@Eel Love the photos you took! I gave it a like and followed you on Twitter. I still have yet to get a PS5, but I'm planning to get one next holiday season.

@Tyranexx I was one of those guys who got it before the price drop, so I was able to get the 20 free games. I originally had the aqua blue 3DS, which looks quite nice in person. Kinda wish I waited a bit to get the red 3DS when that came out, but it is what it is. I gave my aqua blue 3DS to my brother since I got the red 3DS XL for my birthday 7 years ago.

Sadly, my 3DS XL's circle pad started to screw up later down the road. I tried fixing it by recalibrating it, but it only did so much. Last time I checked though, I recall it being okay. It's been a long time though, since I now have the New 3DS XL. Fortunately, my current system is still in working order, and its circle pad never failed me! I thought about getting the SNES edition, but in the end I just stuck with my red system. Plus I think they should've had Super Mario World preinstalled instead of Super Mario Kart, but I digress.

My gray joy-cons did start to screw up as well, but only while they were not attached to the console, and while using both together. I never had joy-con drift while playing in handheld mode, or while playing Super Mario Party (where you use a single joy-con on its side). For my red joy-cons, I always keep them attached to the console, and I have the joy-con straps placed so that the metal part is not facing upward. Those seem to be doing the trick for me, though I should try to remember to update my joy-cons next time I play my Switch.

And yeah, I play docked most of the time too, especially these days. I haven't been playing in handheld mode too much. So yeah, the pro controller is perfect for TV play!

Thanks! I don’t do a lot on Twitter, but thanks for the follow. Good luck with your PS5 plans!

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@TheJGG Ah those are really nice! That’s a really interesting building. Like a futuristic circus. Yeah it’s too bad most sites/messaging apps will lower the quality. I try to keep the originals around though somethings they sink with the ship, so to speak.

That tower's a strange sight. The cars going by is a truly beautiful sight. I've only been to... three Grands Prix, one of those when I was six (and so doesn't truly count), so drinking in the sound's a reward in itself. People I've spoke to say it keeps them up here but they're so quiet compared to, say, 2016. It was deafening then.

@Eel Yeah, I haven't posted too much on Twitter either. Thank you - I'll need it!

Okay, who have ever watched this ?

I don't really delve too much into Russian youtube

@Tyranexx That's excellent to hear! It's perfect for marathon gaming sessions so I love the ergonomic grip. I too play a lot on docked, so it's nice to sit away from the television when I'm playing. I sit around two and a half metres (eight feet) from my television when gaming, so it doesn't damage my eyes.

Having said that (damage) my phone's suffering from a significant internal problem. I found out a few weeks ago there's a significant motherboard problem with my phone, and as recently as two days ago the screen's starting to bulge, meaning the battery's expanding. The battery itself lasts less than two hours despite replacing it twice. I've already ordered a replacement, an iPhone X. So I'll be able to sample newer machinery. I'm a very tech-savvy person but I don't care too much about phones and laptops. As long as it works for me I couldn't care less about model and such. But Apple cameras are really... really good.

Sometimes I may come across lazy but at times it's not laziness, but an honest assessment. This was one such honest assessment, where I told myself I couldn't go any further. I had already made a large moral step in waking up to try to get to the top, so my determination was very key. By the time I stopped I was struggling to breathe, so I'm very confident I made the right choice. We were going up a steep incline at the time so if I blacked out I likely would have gotten a concussion. I did it the first time when I was thirteen, so fitness wise it's extremely demanding. I trained a lot for it and it paid off at least once.

This is one non-fiction book I can't allow you to miss, within my powers of course! As mentioned the level of detail from this firsthand account is amazing. It takes you from your chair and puts you on the mountain. Krakauer's writing's that good; he was going to Everest as a journalist anyhow. And another movie on your list? Don't we all have that problem...

I actually haven't read much manga, or watched much anime. In fact just three months ago we probably had the same amount of experience in that sector (given that you haven't read much in ten years or so it fades out...). I was just encouraged and it worked for the better. I like Attack on Titan's dark tone, it strikes me as such a non-Japanese story despite being conceived by a Japanese artist and published initially in Japanese. It seems to lean more on German than anything. The protagonist has a really cool name; Eren Jäger. When translated from German to English Jäger translates as "hunter". I love it.

@Zuljaras If for whatever reason you aren't able to get certain games, or if the prices are too high for you to seriously consider them, then perhaps I might be persuaded to offer something along the lines of me getting the games for you over here, and then sending them your way, if of course we can find a good way of transferring the funds and so on, so it'll have to be something like PayPal, preferably.

@Tyranexx Indeed. And you would then have missed out as well. What with the distances over there it would probably even be infinitely less worthwhile to track down the shield's next stop, but even over here, it would take me at least an hour if not more (the central station in the picture is already further away) to get to it's next location, and just for one or two pictures of something so disposable, that just isn't worth it to me, so I've just crossed it off the list forever.

As for smiling "naturally", I have honestly NEVER seen any of these selfie idiots do a natural smile. Usually just dumb-@ss grins, especially with things like these, promotional items and such, so you really wouldn't have to worry too much about standing out awkwardly...

@Eel I'm gonna second the "nice picture" comment, because it's well deserved. It's also the kinds of pictures that I would make and like to make, so you got my vote as well.

P.S.

The video that Anti posted actually isn't Russian but Japanese. He just grabbed it from a Russian channel, apparently. And it's old as hell. I remember it from WAY back, when YouTube was still a decidedly modest and friendly, non-pushy service...

@TheJGG Well, I'm American, remember? So being a native English speaker is no excuse. In fact: it actually makes it all the worse if people like us screw our texts or grammar up...

But of course, context was key here. If you had only made the points comment WITHOUT previously mentioning ms. Croft's weirdly proportioned chest in the older Tomb Raider games, then it wouldn't have referred to anything other than the points that @Tyranexx made in her comment, but now, my weirdly working brain and lightning fast working comedic area located deep within that grey matter, automatically connected those two separate things and made them into one item to reply to...

As for there being any potential repercussions: seeing as she hasn't burned you (or me) down yet with any kind of stern/corrective comment, I figure that it's safe to assume that @Tyranexx is okay with the joke and hasn't taken any serious offense.

As for Dead or Alive: it definitely isn't over-sexualized, it just has this weird, over-exaggerated movement in female chest areas, which has become a thing of discussion, or rather: kind of a meme labeled the "jiggle factor", hence me mentioning it. And believe you me, seconds into anyone playing the game, they'll forget all about it. Only the people watching other people play will notice. The games are REALLY good, and offer a solid beat em up with great fighting mechanics and tons of replay value, due to all the possible combos and ways to play.

By the way: the jiggle factor is turned off by default. You have to set your age in the options/settings menu to actually activate it, so the standard way to play is with normal body parts and gravity...

And an actual gameplay mechanic that made the series unique/stand out, is the multi-tiered play areas, nowadays there's often three layers, so you'll start in some arena, then players can throw/kick/punch each other off of the current platform, and then you fall down, continue fighting and then there's often another surprise which can either be another fall to an even lower platform, or something moving horizontally. It's actually quite entertaining. But of course, if beat em ups aren't your thing, then I can imagine it not really offering any incentive to try it out.

I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to show people when playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but I do happen to own that game, so anything's possible there. Although I do have to add that the chances of anyone actually "seeing" me play anything are slim to none, seeing as I live alone, and most of my gaming with friends is done online, and most of them do not play on the Switch, let alone play jRPGs.

On a side note: saw you mentioning Attack on Titan. Great anime series. As for the whole anime and German names thing: that has always been a thing. Ever since the 70's, German names or titles have been used for people, vehicles, episode or movie titles and so on. It's probably because of the history of the Empire with the Axis of Evil. Either way, nothing new under the (rising) sun.

@Eel
Well, if you remember there was a talent show program in Japan long time ago, maybe around 90's - early 2000's era.
It was a good time to watch very creative tv shows. Indonesian peoples like that talent show very much long time ago.
This is my favorite too after searching from Youtube.

@1UP_MARIO - Thanks for the video. Looks real good. Had a good laugh at your comment, and I’m in the exact same boat! Spent the last few years just getting rid of tube TVs I’d collected. I’m down to one Trinitron that I’ll keep. If I can get my 64 switched to HDMI, I can have everything I want hooked up, and maybe everyone will be happy. Maybe...

@Anti-Matter - I’m sure there are apps or tutorials on YT if you’re looking to improve your keyboard typing skills. I’m passable, but I wouldn’t be any good under a clock.

@Tyranexx - Awesome, glad you enjoyed the game. You can use AoC to get amped back up for BOTW2. I played it on WiiU, and I really wish I had my save file on Switch now. I’d still dip back in more often if I did. The Bimms are all well, thanks for asking. We’re doing home school spring break next week, but it’s mostly going to be a home improvement week for me, and the kids will get to spend a ton of time outside with their mom. Should be a nice time. We just dyed Easter eggs earlier, all my fingertips are different colors.

@Eel - We switched to a pour over coffee maker, and it’s been some of the best coffee I’ve ever made at home. Are you familiar? We bought a glass Chemex pour over pot. It takes some effort, but it’s well worth it.

@ThanosReXXX - How you doin, you ole purple space god?

Is that better than other options for ground coffee, @bimmy-lee ....? I just have a cafetiere (or French Press), since that works pretty well while still being simple

@bimmy-lee
I think i will try fingers exercise to make my fingers movement not stiff.
Fingers switching was the hardest part.
The things i remembered was the difference between playing Beatmania IIDX and Pop'n Music.

Beatmania IIDX has very small keyboard buttons, still bigger than Keyboardmania that using actual size piano buttons so the way i put my fingers like PC plug with 3 prongs (thumb, middle finger and ring finger) with pointing finger ready to touch the upper middle button.

But for Pop'n Music, they have bigger size buttons just like Bishi Bashi Arcade so they are not really finger based. You tap the buttons with your palm hands not by fingers. On harder difficulty, there are some simultaneously buttons that you have to press at the same time and mostly their position are approachable by palm hands.

I just amazed to see some Japanese players can play very hard songs (level 12 for Beatmania IIDX / level 50 for Pop'n Music with thousand buttons showered from the top) and still able obtained very high scores. 😲

@bimmy-lee Well, as good as can be expected, under the current circumstances of a COVID-19 lock down and curfew. No one's allowed on the street here between 10pm and 5am, I'm glad I'm still allowed to travel to the office for work, since most of my colleagues have to work from home.

So, all in all, a bit of a mix of a constant state of being annoyed at stuff and trying to make the best of what's still possible under the circumstances. And I've noticed it makes me both mentally AND physically tired, which is definitely taxing and hard sometimes. Currently, the outlook/light at the end of the tunnel is that we should have some loosening of the restrictions around July/August, so only a couple more months to go, which actually sounds weird when you think of it, because under normal circumstances, it most definitely isn't "only" a couple of months.

Especially in times like these, months seem to last for ages, so I kinda wish I had a fast forward button, or Infinity Gauntlet, to speed through this entire episode and be done with it already...

Since I've seen you popping in again every now and then, I had to come to the shameful realization that I never did send you that mail in which I would elaborate on that European/French movie I watched which made such an intense impact on me. Over the months, the impact has most certainly lessened, and obviously, it wasn't just the movie, it was also the circumstances and my frame of mind back then, which wasn't really too great, because I had some issues to overcome.

Perhaps I'll watch it again one of these days, because I still have it on an external hard drive, so maybe I'll try and see how it will affect me this time around, and if it's still as much of a punch to the gut as before, even though I now obviously won't be as surprised by the twists and turns it contains, so it will always be less harrowing than the first time, but who knows. The French definitely understand the fine art of mixing emotions and combining love and heartfelt moments with instances that leave you with a sense of total and utter despair. Not too surprising either, if you're familiar with the label "film noir" which also originates from France, obviously.

What I do vividly remember from my first time watching it, is also getting a moment of clarity and understanding, due to the subject matter. Can't spoil too much, otherwise I wouldn't be able to recommend it to you later on, if it turns out that it's still a very good and impactful experience...

Anyway, thanks for asking and I hope that you and your loved ones are doing okay as well. By the way: do you currently have any other DIY projects going on? Bought any new and creepy table lamps?

I also vaguely remember something about a man cave/game room? Or perhaps I'm confusing you with another Chit-Chatter, so be sure to correct me if I'm wrong.

@ThanosReXXX Wow thanks for the offer! Really! You are located in the UK right?

That you propose is you get the games and I send you money to PayPal and you send the games as a gift?

To be honest I do not want to burden you with such things. But if things in the future get really dire I will ask you for this really anti-brexit collaboration That will teach them to not mess with gamers!

@TheJGG The worst part is that honest people (UK eBay sellers) are getting it because the sellers have lots of customers in the EU (Outside UK)

@Zuljaras Haha, God no. I live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We have REALLY good prices for games over here...

So, no sending as gifts, just you being able to incorporate me in your game ordering scheme, basically as another possibility of acquiring games. And then I'll send them to you and you just pay the price of the game + p&p from here to you, which will more than likely be cheaper than ordering from Brexitannia...

@ThanosReXXX thanks! I’d actually love to have an actual camera someday, my phone has the habit of overcorrecting color. @Anti-Matter oh interesting. I’ll check the video out once I’m back on wifi.

@bimmy-lee oh I’ve seen those, though I don’t have one myself, they do look really cool. My dad has a French Press-style maker that he quite likes. Though he uses it mostly for tea.

We should probably get a new coffee maker one of these days, our current one has been... Having a hard time.

@Eel Ah, yeah... Don't get me started on phone cameras. I'm currently using my phone camera exclusively, mainly because I always have it with me, and besides color correcting (which, by the way, on my Android smart phone, a Samsung Galaxy, can be corrected by selecting pro mode and then changing the ISO setting from standard or auto to 200, which is also especially good for evening photos, where colored lights in the standard setting will almost always look like various shades of washed-out white) they also have a tendency to overcompensate with light and dark.

Just a couple of days ago, I used the phone to make a small video and whenever I pointed it into the direction of a more sunlit area, it immediately and unnaturally darkened the picture, which was so not an accurate depiction of what my eyes were seeing.

On a side note: I'm personally still on a continuing quest to make a good picture of the moon, but no matter what I try, and besides camera settings I've also tried multiple so-called night photography apps, I only get mono-colored or over-exposed, illuminated discs, which for all intent and purposes, might as well be a picture of the sun...

@ThanosReXXX what do you mean really good prices on games? Which shops? Online or retail?

Also, Amsterdam ... damn I did not know that! I read that is a good place to live! Really high living standards. One of the best in Europe and possibly the world!

@Zuljaras Both, but I usually buy online, nowadays. Just to give you an idea, just browse this site. It's obviously in Dutch, but I reckon that you'll still be able to find the search bar at the top and prices are in euros, so that should be pretty clear as well. And otherwise, you could always run it through Google Translate. I would select English, though, in case you were considering your own language...

EDIT:
There's also plenty of Nintendo-only used games options over here. There's a company that specializes in all generations and systems of Nintendo, and they've made dedicated portals for each system. Here's a list:

• SNES
• N64
• GameCube
• Wii
• Game Boy Advance
• DS
• 3DS
• Wii U

@ThanosReXXX Those are amazing! I have some question if you have experience with them:

1. Are the products authentic and not reproductions? Especially the retro stuff.
2. Do you have any idea if they ship internationally? That would be huge if possible but I am worried that if the site do not offer EN option for language they will not ship internationally

If those are true I could seriously forget about eBay and other UK based seller/sites!

UPDATE: With the help of google translate I got this from their Shipping page:
"Europe, huh?
We also ship to other countries within Europe. For all countries except the Netherlands and Belgium, a delivery time of approximately 2-3 working days applies."

With my next paycheck I will try and order from one of those sites! Now I will save them all in a document for safekeeping!

Unfortunately this site www.nedgame.nl is a no go for me as the delivery to Bulgaria is 35 Euros