Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

2025 Checkpoint (7/18/25)

Sorry I skipped the pre-Switch 2 June one, but I've been busy (and I kinda just didn't feel like it 😅). We're already halfway through the year? Man time flies. But I'm here again, and what a time it's been!

Greater questions about the future aside, the Switch 2 launch went pretty well. It sold 3.5 million for launch, and people are enjoying it. I don't have one yet, but my friends do and they seem to like it.

Things have been great at church. Our revival was a great success, and we've been getting good attendance from our guests since. I've even made a friend as well!

Other than that, just working, playing, and doing anything else I need to do. Still looking for a new job (I'm bound to find something one of these day). Speaking of playing....

Gaming schedule:

Finished Super Monkey Ball jr. on my GBA SP... sort of. You see, there are three main mode available offhand, but there's an unlockable Master Mode that I didn't want to beat or unlock. But it's okay, because it's a solid experience. Impressive how they made a fully-functional Monkey Ball playable on the GBA.

In honor of the Switch 2 launch, I decided to go back to my first Switch 1 game: Sonic Forces. It... certainly a game, isn't it? A lackluster one at that, in fact. It's not the best. The short levels, the meh dialogue and story, and lack of REAL content (not just replaying levels again and again) add up. Still, there is some enjoyment to be had. I liked the custom avatar content (between the design closet and his levels) to a degree. And the music ain't too bad:

I finally beat Brothership! I got this game Christmas, and between playing other games (I was playing Monster Hunter Rise and Zelda Phantom Hourglass before this) and being busy with everyday life and church, it took a while.

I really enjoyed it! The combat is soild, the world gameplay and design are good, the world itself has so much charm, and the charactes are enjoyable (shoutout to Dulles and Ten). The story, while it doesn't perfectly come together and the writing isn't the absolute best, is pretty good and surprisingly deep (especially for a Mario and Luigi game). Oh, and the music is pleasant to listen to. A solid entry, all things considering.

Just started Layton's Mystery Journey. Enjoying it so far, but I have to admit it's certainly odd in it's story, dialogue, and even pacing. Still, I'm enjoying the puzzles, so that's good.

2025 Commitments:
Well, I started Layton's Mystery Journey, that was on my list 😃. I'll see what I'll play next after that, might do another commitment game. Other than that, I'm still job searching. Really hoping to get into the postal service.

Final remarks:
Things might be hot and/or rainy, but I'm gonna keep marching on. I've got books to read, games to play, and people to help. Honestly, I really think a postal job would be good for me! Pray for me.

Have a good one, and God bless!

Oh, and have this out of context DC moment. Bye:

@konicstar
Good luck with your job hunting! Never played Sonic Forces, but the music in Sonic games is usually quite good. Brothership is a solid game. I enjoyed the battles and even the more emotional tone, compared to past entries. I thought Layton's Mystery Journey was enjoyable, even without Layton.

The day before yesterday I went to the museum, called "Übersee Museum". This museum has a nice and welcoming atmosphere. I went to the blue continent exhibition. Everything there is very beautifully decorated. It felt exotic.There you can go inside a reconstruction of a whale's heart. You can comfortably sit in the heart, it is pretty big.

I also saw objects of the "Tinglit", people living in south-east Alaska. Loved the dagger made of meteorite.

There also was a cool, African themed room, where you could choose songs from a list and watch a video. Really cool vibes in there with lots of intruments. I listened to "Motherland". Music back then was so alive and positive.

The last exhibition I saw, was about religions.

All in all, I had a pleasant time and I would like to come back someday.

My family has a dog, specifically a Norwegian Buhund breed. Whenever we travel, we drop him off at a daycare for dogs. Recently, the dog daycare started offering some bonus add-ons that cost money. One of these add-ons is a "storytime and a snack". The dog is taken to a small room with one worker inside who reads an actual freaking book to the dog, who is given a snack and a blanket. The cost is $15 for one session. Kind of ridiculous, if you ask me, but I know people like to spoil their dogs, so... ❓️

@konicstar cool to hear that you're a Christian, and it's great that your church's revival services went well! My church is having a VBS program this upcoming week, so pray that goes well. We are doing romething new this year, with a "Family Night" on Friday so we can meet with the families of the kids who came. Hopefully your job hunt goes well. I'm sure you'll be raking in the cash soon enough!
@ShieldHero huh, that's a new one.... Some ppl really spoil their pets. I tend to see that a lot with empty nesters, so I think it is sort of they see their pet as a child of sorts.

@CaleBoi25, your church does VBS as well? My church did it in early June. My younger brother was a student there for a few days. Also, what you think of involving spoiling pets is true, I've heard that if someone lives alone without any kids, but they do have a pet, they often spend a ton of money on their pet (when they could be paying off potential loans instead, but I don't boss people around with their own money). I've already decided that even if I live alone in the future, I won't have a pet because of all the expenses, and I'm just not as big of an animal person (which kinda makes no sense since Pokémon is my favorite franchise 🤣). If I'm spoiling anyone in the future, it will be me with video games and anime or any potential grandkids... with video games and anime? 🤣

Edit: also, I've been meaning to send you a Switch friend request for a while, so I just did that. My Switch username is King Shao (I'm telling you that just in case you get confused by the different name).

@ShieldHero
I'm curious to know how did you apply your Christianity faith in your video gaming and being an anime fan?
Do you have some restrictions of what kind of video games or anime that sit right for your faith?
Well, because I'm an adult 40 years old but really hate 18+ movies, video games and stuffs. Just only prefer kids stuffs and certain Teen franchise.

@Anti-Matter, right now, since I'm not quite an adult yet, my parents decide what I'm allowed to read, watch, play, etc., but I am allowed to experience stuff with quite a bit of violent and suggestive material if I wish to. Most of the anime I watch is rated TV-14. I've only watched one Mature audience anime before: Delicious in Dungeon on Netflix. That one mostly has a high rating simply because of the violence and the dark tone, the suggestive material is closer to TV-14 level. A lot of the anime I watch has stuff like swear words as well. As for video games, I mostly play first party Nintendo games, and most of those are rated Everyone or Everyone 10+. The content in the media I experience certainly isn't the most kid friendly. I think it's great that you set your own limits for yourself though. 😊

@ShieldHero You have a dog! That’s cool, I used to have two pet dogs but we never took them to a daycare, we’d always take care of them inside the house, but that story time with a snack thing sounds silly (in a good way) but I can’t imagine how comfortable and happy a dog would feel getting a snack and blanket to themself while getting told a story.

@Mariotag I had to offload a few games and apps to save space. They weren’t big games but I deleted a couple of Sonic games off my phone a few months ago when my rhythm game stared having performance issues. I only have limited it to four games and a game emulator for retro games, but I haven’t touched it in a while. I was trying to play DK64 back in April but I dropped it randomly.

I rarely hear anything about Bluesky anymore. It only got popular when Twitter was having a meltdown and users thinking it was the end of Twitter, but now I barely hear anything about that and another similar app called Mastodon, probably because Twitter (predictably) stayed open even after all the negative changes and the small bit of people that left. I have to wonder how Bluesky’s user base is now that you mentioned a lot of Twitter discussions moved to there.

That’s good, yeah, I wouldn’t want to make any artist angry or uncomfortable by using their art without permission. I know a lot of artists are actually fine with that, but I still prefer not to do it. I used to do it years ago I think, but now I just stick to screen grabs/screenshots from games, shows, and movies I like. Speaking of which, I have the urge to change mine right now. I hate it too, I don’t know how hard it is for some to just give credit to the people who use their art as avatars.

Yeah, but I think it’s mostly everywhere now because of how popular the internet has been for years now, and how there are plenty of different opinions and sides people share. I’m sure now more than ever some individuals fearmonger to also get groups to support their own views, but do so in malicious ways that possibly include misinformation in order to scare them, and unfortunately I’ve seen people online sometimes falling for things that are fake or not fact-checked, so some people take advantage of some people’s gullibility to scare them.

Yeah, the block button can be used for good but also for bad, but I find it’s a necessity in case someone is clearly bothering another person, and especially if it’s something that might seriously harm and threaten them. But of course people can find ways around it or use it for the wrong purposes over trivial matters or to avoid looking bad. I have felt that way before but never had the urge to use it at all for that, in fact, before NL removed blocking, I never had anyone on my block list despite maybe getting into a few minor disagreements with some of them on opinions because they were very small and trivial, though luckily I’ve never gotten into actual arguments with anyone on here that would have justified a block, but I honestly think blocking a person for having a different opinion on a game or something to be stupid.

Yes, that one and I’m very sorry that it made you feel really terrible. You can reply at any time, you should only do it when you’re feeling better. Take your time!

@Anti-Matter
Interesting. I decided for myself not to consume media rated higher than USK 12. My belief is, that you do not need violence and the rest of the bad stuff to make good entertainment. Besides, should people not get wiser and well behaved, when they grow older? Why is the grown up media so often the opposite of that?

@Jhena
I think there is a society which still portraying some behaviors such as barbaric which adoring violence over than peaceful, the pride that blinded them into arrogance by looking down other people who look different and underestimated, the fixed mainstream society who keep following the trendy stuffs without having a lot of confidence to be different than their society.

@Anti-Matter
Yeah, it is better to find your own way, especially if the society has fallen into depravity.

what that guy said

Much love,
Jed

If anyone here is looking for an adult-leaning anime, but not because of violence or mature elements but because it is slow-paced and contemplative, I'd highly recommend Mushi-shi. At least in Europe it can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

M-rated and adult media is not more violent or sexual because adults need more violence or sex.

A child isn’t fully able to separate fiction from reality and it can be damaging to them to see disturbing content. An adult is (hopefully) more capable of discerning what’s right, wrong, real, or fake- so when it comes to media made for adults, they can use a wider array of themes as storytelling tools.

Of course this isn’t to say every adult needs to fall in line and graduate into consuming exclusively that kind of media; it simply to explain why m-rated materials are like that. The ratings are there for a reason it’s not just a “hehehe this one has naked people in it hehehhehehe!”-sticker.

@Jhena I think people actually get dumber with age in some regards. The more you see, the better the your point of view, but for most people, anything not strictly "normal" is unknown, and unknown is "scary", therefore wrong. They want to sit in their little trenches and tell themselves it's normal, instead of challenging their own ideas.

I am much more mature than when I was a teen, but I think most people are just teens who grow old as teens, they stop developing at some point and disregard things as stupid.

As for why media is dumber - down to earth explanation is Microsoft Excel. Corpos want money, nothing less, nothing more. And people consume easy to digest media because they can be consumed in large quantities, that kinda kills the pain. That's why there are no directors or screenwriters in live action tv shows, for instance.

The question is, has humanity fallen into depravity, or is it more clear that it has always been a mess?

I grew up on Grand Theft Auto III and look at me, I am fine

I announced this elsewhere on Nintendo Life, but I now have a Switch 2! Been playing Mario Kart World and having an awesome time with it. I wanted to have a different profile picture too, been playing as Toad with his train outfit lately. I might sound a bit giddy, but oh my goodness, he's just so cute wearing it!

@Pastellioli Sounds good to me, whatever you're comfortable with. I'm the same way, I've always favored drawing in certain ways... I would either draw from still life, or draw something more stylized. Yeah, drawing things in a diagonal angle is pretty hard, it might be easier to do it via still life though. Backgrounds are something I can struggle with too, I do want to make sure they look organic in terms of composition.

Good to hear you donated the crayons. Besides drawing, I've done oil painting as well, but I'm not too huge into it personally, just because it can get a bit messy. I like using colored pencils, but I've not done oil pastels. The water-based markers sound somewhat similar to watercolor, only without the brush of course. I did actually do a tiny bit of watercolor long ago, but didn't really like how it turned out, but I would like to try it again.

Platformers will always be one of my favorite game genres too. I do like racing and adventure games as well. I sometimes play RPGs, but I'd have to be in the mood for them since they can be long and have slow pacing. Yeah definitely... I don't think I'll ever give up Nintendo as long as I'm into games. I used to like PlayStation, but I lost respect for Sony about a decade ago after they started having their newer games be more like interactive movies. But yeah, I'm definitely proud to enjoy everything that I do enjoy... I believe it's important to just be yourself and love yourself for who you are. And of course, being a good person.

I mean, that is basically true, many of the Switch 1 games do run on the Switch 2. Out of all the games I have, the only one that has problems on Switch 2 is Layer Section/Galactic Attack. Apparently, there's a problem with game progression in it. On Tears of the Kingdom, thanks!

Yeah, I do remember hearing that the original vision of that Conker game did get criticized for being too similar to stuff like Banjo-Kazooie. It is cool they did release the game in some form for sure, albeit very late into the N64's life span, if I recall correctly.

As mentioned before, I got a Switch 2, which was bundled with Mario Kart World... and I'm having a blast with it. I don't have Donkey Kong Bananza just yet, but I do want to give it a shot sometime. Best of luck on avoiding spoilers.

@Princess_Lilly
I like to think, that I have still a lot to learn and that I will be a better person in a few years.

GTA III is so tame compared to the newer stuff. I still love Vice City, even if it is about crime. But it kinda has class compared to the new games. And the German version did not even have blood or those rampages. But yeah, a good person will in the end not be brought to become a bad person just because of media. Still, why would I want to consume darkness?

I want to believe that humanity was pure in the beginning, but I do not know why many people chose death. Maybe it is a lot harder to be good and people just give up. Or they just let themselves be seduced by evil. I hope everyone will find their way.

@Fiergala
Oh yes, this is one of my favourite animes! Absolut masterpiece. Journeying, learning, solving problems and helping people. The atmosphere is so beautiful, too.

@Jhena: Yeah, while I personally have no problem with fighting or violent anime, I am glad it seems younger people understand nowadays there's a lot more to the medium than just Dragon Ball Z and hent*i unlike when I was growing up when that was the overriding assumption.