Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

The numbness from my left arm after getting my second COVID vax yesterday gave me an excuse to chill and finally play Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Lo and behold one day later I finally decide to catch up on the current comics run because I'm loving the game lol. Well done Insomniac

@Eel yeah i almost bought some of those, of course they have a skeleton head

@TheFrenchiestFry I'm playing it too! I haven't played that much (I think) but I've been having a blast so far. I miss my Future Foundation suit though...

Just came here to say that your all cool and wonderful people and you are the living proof that the world has good people in it, for those who don't think so. so please have a good day/night.

its dangerous to go alone!
take this.

Waiting to here about my gamecube diagnostic & repair. Dropped it off on Tuesday. Still no word.

Been playing forza Horizon 4 at my brother's this week.

At least you're not an antivaxxer. Get well soon!

@Snatcher You're a cool person too, don't you forget it. Have a great day yourself!

@WoomyNNYes Hah, n00b! I've been playing Project CARS 2, the only game where I can race single seater cars with a wheel. In other games they're so stiff and it just doesn't translate well.

Long time lurker, First time poster, Y'all are great.

@Witchfynder64 Hello and welcome.

@Witchfynder64 Do enjoy your time around here; this thread is objectively the best one!

@TheJGG While I don't have an xbox, I probably have at least 50-80 hours playing Forza Horizon 3 and 4(playing when I visit my brother). I thought my brother was going to finally load Forza Horizon 2 (my gift to him christmas 2020), but he said there were still new races on Horizon 4. So, we've been doing those on Horizon 4. Ug, and it's winter season in-game. I like other Horizon games were it was perpetually summer, unless you go into the mountains, snowy, winter area. Which I why I was really hoping we'd load Horizon 2, which is new to us.

I can always manage a first place finish with average difficulty. But, my brother's racing/skills/lines aren't as refined as mine, so we never bump the difficulty up. Although, I've been coaching him more, and he's improving. He tends to go into sharp turns with too much speed, then tries to compensate with too much brake, or doesn't take a smoother line. He's improving with my guidance, but we'll have to see if he can continue improving.

When he loses grip, he often doesn't give the car enough time to settle before getting on the gas again. That's something I definitely learned with gran turismo ps2/ps3, which he never played.

@Anti-Matter You're welcome.

@MarioLover92 Oh wow, I never knew they made a Super Mario Bros. themed pinball game before.

@Witchfynder64 Have fun mate.

@Anti-Matter 155+ hours on Yo-Kai Watch 3: Tempura? That's dedication! I used to sink a ton of time into some games, but it's rare that I push over 100 hours anymore. Depends on the game though. Glad to read that you're keeping busy with other games too. Variety is always nice! I think I'd like the Skylanders franchise, but I haven't tried it yet.

@MarioLover92 Truth be told, I wasn't aware that Sega had any other consoles after the Genesis until they were off shelves. I was mostly just aware of Nintendo, Sony/Playstation, and later on Xbox lol. Seems odd that your Dreamcast would reset itself randomly. Kinda makes me wonder what happened under the previous owner.

I always wondered what it would've been like to have a dedicated comic book store. There was a normal book store here until about a decade ago, then it closed. It's pretty much down to whatever paltry offerings Walmart has, or the internet lol. I do like Barnes and Noble, but the closest one is about a 90 minute drive. Needless to say I load up the couple times a year I go there! XD I'm familiar with some of the newspaper ones too, my favorites being Garfield, Peanuts, Dilbert, and (weirdly enough) Baby Blues. I never was exposed to Calvin and Hobbes much, but I have enjoyed the strips I've come across. Someone I knew in high school was a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes.

@Witchfynder64 Welcome! The forums tend to be less crazy than the main site. This thread in particular is usually pretty chill.

@WoomyNNYes
Oh, btw.
Have you ever played other racing games with different vehicles such as Jetski, Snowmobile, ATV, Mountain bike, mini aeroplane, Snowboard, Skiing, etc ?
I'm not even a fan of normal racing games like Gran Turismo or Forza due to no items to smack onto opponents like Mario Kart, but i still want to try normal racing games from Go Vacation since the game have a lot of racing games with different vehicles so i don't need to buy Forza or Initial D or any normal racing games since i can always play them from Go Vacation just for curiosity.
There is a normal car racing games from Go Vacation and it looks like very Initial D for me but it lacks of Eurobeat songs so i played the Eurobeat songs from my handphone while playing car racing from Go Vacation and it felt like i was "playing" Initial D. 😆

@Tyranexx
I still haven't beat the Daruma Boss from Daruma tower, the boss from Bizzare door, got some Yokai from famous inventors (Thomas Alva Edison, Charles Darwin, Christopher Columbus), getting all legendary Merican Yokai with pass tickets, etc.
Still a lot of things to do.
If i compared the hours gameplay from all my Yokai Watch, i have accumulated 40+ hours for YW1, 27+ hours for YW2 Bony Spirits, 160+ for YW3 Tempura. I finished the storyline of Yokai Watch 2 Bony Spirits quicker than Yokai Watch 1. I played more Yokai Watch 3 than Yokai Watch 1 & 2 because not only the game have longer storyline but also i have more interest with some Merican Yokai (Slugger / Damajor Nine is my favorite Merican Yokai 😍).
My current team in YW3 is All Brave Yokai with consist 3 Brave Yokai from YW1, 3 Brave Yokai from YW3 with at least 1 Merican Yokai on it. Sometimes i paired with Ghostess for the Healer (Hearty Yokai from YW3, Japanese lady Yokai with six arms from her hairbun ) as i can use her to get one more chance for Crank-a-kai each 1 day after you answered the Baffle Board inside Sauna & public bath place. You will also get 1 bottle of Milk from Ghostess each day you talk to her.

There was interesting moment from YW3 during playing the quest from Hailey side. That was a quest from Hailey's friends (two girl students) which those girls were curious about the mysterious crying sound from San Fantatisto cave. After some investigation, that crying sound was from Urashinyan (Jibanyan with Urashima Taro outfits). After some fight and conversations with Mad Doctor Yokai, Urashinyan revealed an elevator from the lake that connecting to underwater dragon castle. I was jaw dropping to see a modern platform concealed from underwater. There was like Underwater princess Yokai over there (forgot her name) and i believe i can befriend with her when i visited her place again (need to restock Forbidden apples first before catch her).

Speaking about the new feature added in YW2 & YW3, i think Hazy Lane in YW3 is better than Infinite Tunnel in YW2 as you walked the infinite path, you will see different environments from rice field to wild plants to ready to harvest rice field with some random peoples and Yokai appeared. Infinite Tunnel was just straight path with some different brick textures while Hazy Lane was not just a straight path, it has some wavy path or upside down view path. Both of them kinda mysterious and creepy at the same time as the path length will be different as you played routinely and they will disappear once you reach "the end" of the path. I have to stock a lot of Staminum Alpha for YW3 as sometimes i encountered with giant lobster or creepy Skulk chase after me and i have to run fast before they caught me and it will reset the distance meter i have walked.

Well, looks like i have more interest with Yokai Watch 3DS games than Pokemon games as i have ever mentioned before, Pokemon games in my opinion was not as interesting as Yokai Watch games in term of Battle system, storyline plot and varieties in each series to keep the players get engaged with the franchise. Of course i will get Pokemon Brilliant Diamond for Nintendo Switch but i think i will get the game late as i played Pokemon games very casually, not as hyped as Yokai Watch. Even i still haven't finished my Pokemon Omega Ruby, Sun and Ultra Moon (Pokemon gen 7 was felt really boring in my opinion).

Oh, i have played Skylanders Swap Force PS3 and have reached chapter 15 when Tessa got captured by Kaos. The thing i enjoy from Skylanders was cartoonish looking 3D adventure game, felt almost like 3D Mario games but with some weapons. The thing i didn't really enjoy was the length of one mission that could take almost 1 hour or more to finish as the area was not just only one but more than 3 different areas with some challenges or mini games to pass the areas, not to mention some optional paths that only certain Skylanders can pass the Elemental gates that matched with their elemental or abilities. Sometimes i felt sleepy to finish one chapter in Skylanders and i have to pause the game to refresh my mind and keep stay awake.

You better get some Skylanders games as the games suddenly getting expensive from Ebay especially Skylanders Imaginators. Fortunately, i still able to get other Skylanders games + starter figurines from Tokopedia with cheaper prices. For Skylanders Imaginators, i found i still have a chance to get cheaper price from Ebay (Wii U version).

@Sunsy Yep, they made it back in '92. It has artwork that's very similar to Super Mario World, and it even has Charles Martinet doing the voice for Mario. Here's the Mario Wiki article about it. Really glad my arcade has it and other Nintendo arcade games, including Mario Kart Arcade GP.

@Tyranexx Ah okay - I don't blame you because the Genesis was their biggest selling console by a long shot. I did know of Sega even in the 90s - I kid you not, I had an uncle who had a Saturn back in the day, and that console bombed badly. He sold his because there were so few games for it. Yeah, I wonder too...I recall it working fine when I first got it, then it started resetting itself later on. Maybe the laser ran its course or something. I was thinking of getting another Dreamcast, though I'd need to look up how to fix that problem the next time it happens to me.

Oh yeah, I did read Peanuts and Dilbert comics as well. Those were a good read, from what I remember anyway. One of my physics professors had those kind of comics in lectures as well - including one from Calvin and Hobbes. The tests we took had one of them too. My dad gave me one of his Bloom County books that compiled a lot of its comic strips over the years - I did like all the ones I've read so far, though I haven't read them all yet. Goodness, 90 minutes away? That's quite a long trip. I guess I got lucky because my Barnes and Noble is in a nearby area from where I live. It's a good store for sure, my dad likes going there quite a bit.

@TheJGG Crazy how that works, huh? How refreshing a change in routine can be, especially if it's vacation/holiday-related! I'm glad nobody became sick, though I completely understand the necessity of taking another test just to be on the safe side. I hope the brain prodding goes well, and that it's quick. I'd never had a nasal swab test done (Apparently, there's a similar procedure used to test for the flu) until almost a year ago when I opted to get tested thanks to some GI symptoms. VERY uncomfortable, made my eyes water quite a bit. Thankfully, it came back negative.

Seems like my hunch on the internet policy was correct, and that is understandable from a traffic perspective. Thinking about it, that may be better than the overloaded internet I've experienced at most hotels with no limits and cheap internet. I at least hope there wasn't an arbitrary sign-on portal you had to go through first.

I have yet to read George R.R. Martin's work, but I eventually hope to pick up at least A Game of Thrones. I haven't seen the HBO show, though I know it had quite a following when it was airing (and is perfectly memeable). My apologies, your work on your Xenoblade piece completely slipped my mind! And the link is even in your signature. I'll give that a look soon; I'm very interested in your progress. Writing is a nice way to unwind sometimes, though I need to watch it if I'm typing and staring at screens for too long. I'm less apt to take breaks when I'm absorbed, which contributes to eyestrain.

You've actually touched on a main reason why I don't generally care for sports games: If I'm playing a sport, I'd rather do the real thing. Games like Wii Sports are a rare exception, and that's only when I'm playing with others. I don't blame you for being rusty; it had been some time since you played, after all! And you only lost four balls? I'd probably lose at least that amount, not to mention somehow make one of them explode...or set off a chain reaction that makes something else explode. There's no guarantee that would happen, but when one is accident-prone, you learn to expect something lol. As for the Olympics, I still haven't gotten around to watching the opening ceremony. Definitely looking forward to the musical pieces, and I do appreciate the practice and training that go into choreography!

I don't mind wearing a mask most of the time, but the heat definitely takes its toll. I didn't mind them when it was cooler at all - heck, they helped warm my face to the point where I wouldn't take them off half the time even if I was in a space to do so - but with heat? Bleck! Nothing compared to where you are in sheer temps, of course, but heat coupled with humidity here makes even short-term outdoor wear very hard to tolerate in the summer. Thankfully, it's rare that I'm in outdoor areas with a lot of people (somewhat out of preference), so I don't often wear them outside. I have started wearing breathable masks while mowing to help with my allergies though. They aren't intended to be indoor masks, so no double-duty there. They've certainly helped mitigate congestion and sneezing.

Peanut butter and chocolate is in and of itself a great combination, but...I admittedly don't think I'd apply the chocolate directly to the jar of peanut butter. Personally, I'd melt it elsewhere first, then apply it separately. I'd probably have to choose a darker chocolate as well, though that's in part because I'm not used to sweetened peanut butter; I intentionally buy a variety with just two ingredients: peanut butter and a smidge of salt. I'm now craving those Lindt truffles! XD They do make a great holiday treat. I've had a chocolate/peanut butter spread on graham crackers previously, though I don't think with bread. That might make a good toast experiment during the cooler months.... :thinking_face:

I do agree many of the MCU films are easy to get into without a lot of background. I did intentionally skip Endgame for the time being since I didn't watch Infinity War. Ironically, I watched the other two Avenger films. You'd think I would have watched the Thor films since I like Norse mythology, but I admittedly haven't seen any of those. I think I've seen an official "watch order" chart floating around, though I'm unsure if I'd get to every single one of those films on there. I'll keep your suggestions in mind.

I don't recall phase one of the battle with Demise being too difficult, it was just how finicky the lightning could be in phase two. I still stand by my assertion that it's a well-orchestrated fight, iconic in its own way and one of the better final boss sequences in the series. Not sure what's up with me, but I was in a gaming rut part of this last week and didn't feel like playing much. I finished out what I wanted of Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call, but I mostly neglected Ys VIII and a couple of other games I'm wanting to start. Some of it is physical fatigue; I think I need a break from RL. I did return to the Isle of Seiren yesterday and hope to return shortly. You'll need to enlighten me on the whole "Abandoned" conspiracy as I'm not familiar with that one.

A MIDI controller, you say? I bet that will be interesting to experiment with. Sounds like it's perfectly transportable too. Physical games are cheaper there? All the more encouragement to stick with that medium!...if you didn't have a very practical reason for going mostly digital. Many games benefit from music players IMO, and it sounds like DDLC's soundtrack is certainly worth listening to. For work listening, I've been bouncing between Xenoblade Chronicles, some of the Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum soundtrack, all three Metroid Prime entries (though mostly Echoes and Corruption), and the Golden Sun series.

What NOT to do when spending some of your day walking outside: forget to grab sunscreen.

Me: No problem, I'll just stick to the shade when I can!

...Which I did do for the most part, but apparently that wasn't enough for the left side of my neck and collar. I've had worse burns, but I try to avoid getting them at all since there's a bit of a family history of skin cancer on my mom's side. In fact, she had basal cell carcinoma removed from her nose about a decade ago. I'm at least in the habit of wearing sunglasses, but I've ordered a sun hat with a neck cover for good measure. I'm not the biggest fan of hats, but I'll live.

@Anti-Matter That's a lot of Yo-Kai Watch time! I don't blame you for wanting to play different games for awhile; I'd certainly need a break! XD Though it sounds like you're still enjoying playing through them. That quest for Urashinyan sounds really awesome and vaguely reminds me of the Toiletta side quest in Bony Spirits/Fleshy Souls. I had fun with that one. Hazy Lane indeed sounds much better than the Infinite Tunnel; I didn't bother with the Infinite Tunnel much since it became quite boring and same-y after a little while.

While I still prefer the battle mechanics in Pokemon games (I'm not a fan of the turn wheel in the first two YW games, though I've heard YW3 really changes up the combat system), the Yo-Kai Watch games definitely have more thought put into the sheer extras that are available, the side quests, Yo-Kai variety (even if some of them are palette swaps, but Pokemon does the same with shiny forms), the plot is more enjoyable (at least in the second game; the first YW was too episodic for my liking), and it feels less generic compared to more recent Pokemon entries. I haven't played Sword/Shield yet, so I'll reserve judgement until I play those. Not that the more recent Pokemon games are bad, but they feel more generic compared to some previous games in the series. I'll probably get Brilliant Diamond for nostalgia reasons, but not day one. The Gen 4 and 5 Pokemon games, including remakes during those generations, are my favorites in the entire Pokemon series.

The main reason I didn't get into Skylanders back in the day was how expensive the toys to life concept was. I still have never really jumped into it outside of grabbing a few amiibo. I'm not surprised the prices are going up, but that unfortunately seems to be happening to a lot of decent games out there these days.

@MarioLover92 I probably wouldn't have been aware of the Sega Genesis either had I not had a babysitter at one point who owned one lol. It actually belonged to her older son; it was a gift from his father. I can't say I ever became a pro at any of the games on offer, but I had fun! I think I've listed off what I used to play before, so I'll spare you for now. That was a very odd problem with your Dreamcast. Was it a known issue? If so, there are probably steps to resolve it online...or at least some experimentation.

I'm more familiar with the Peanuts holiday specials, but the comics are decent too. As for Garfield, I got into that via a compilation book left at my grandma's house by a cousin. Your physics professor sounds like an awesome person! That's saying something, considering that I'm not a fan of physics in general. Too much weird math lol. I'm a fan of B&N, though I'd certainly patronize a local bookstore if we still had one close by. Honestly, with all the amenities in Barnes and Noble, I could probably live there if they'd let me spend my nights in the store! XD

Hiya @Anti-Matter!
Off the top of my head:
Trials Rising
Crash Team Racing
Mini Motor Racing X
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2
Meow Motors
Cars 3 Driven To Win

Riptide GP: Renegade, it's a jet ski game. But it didn't keep my interest.
Pumped BMX (gets too hard, didn't like it)

If you have an Xbox, Cars 2 was a driving mission game, I think. ign gave it an 8/10. The review made me want it, but I don't have an Xbox. It's an Xbox 360 game, but it's available for Xbox one, series x.

I also have Coffin Dogers, Hot Shot Racing, Team Sonic Racing, but they didn't hold my interest.