Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

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@MarioVillager92 Poses are why I’m in such an art block, so it’s something I need to practice! I sometimes want a plain pose, but then I’m stuck between wanting something simple or dynamic. I do try using references when drawing, but I need to pick easier to understand references…

That’s good! Nice you mastered paints in that class you took. It’s fine, I don’t really care that I didn’t finish them in retrospect. The paintings looked pretty terrible in retrospect and no matter how much I tried changing up the coloring and rendering it never worked. I think I’d do better with acrylic paint markers, at least I’d have more control and less mess that way, also since I’m used to using markers a lot.

Yeah, I feel a certain way when I try testing items on drawing paper lol so I just use junk paper instead to test and experiment since it’s thin. With sketchbooks I prefer to have finished drawings, but I think that’s something I need to get out of, though I get very unsatisfied with small and uncolored drawings I make. I’m not the best at filling in sketchbooks. My perfectionism strikes and I sometimes rip pages I don’t like out or skip pages with sketches I dislike…I unfortunately did that with a mixed media sketchbook I still have yet to fully fill.

It’s fine, it did stink but I guess you can’t win them all, though it did stink a lot since I liked OW a lot and found OW2 still retained the fun gameplay from the original, plus I felt like I was less of a help to my team no matter how hard I tried from how strong the enemy team was. I think previous Splatoon games for me have only a select few stages that are slightly infuriating, but I was fine with the ones in 3. Basically, I hate any stage in Splatoon that has too much water or any spaces where the enemy can easily attack and puppy guard me and my team’s base.

A lot of the stages in Mario Maker are (or were) pretty fun, I myself just sucked at making fun stages haha. One of my favorite types of stages were the ones with the music note blocks and objects that are arranged in a way so that it plays a certain song/theme while you run across the stage, but I don’t know if I’m describing it well. Jetpac is one of the better designed of Rare’s old ZX Spectrum games; it has simple controls and a straightforward goal, but others like Knight Lore and especially Underwurlde are the worst because of them having bad controls, jank, and a hard to follow and confusing goal. Some of the 3D perspective in those games are cool, especially for the time they were released in, but that’s all I can say in terms of good stuff. The Spectrum games in Rare Replay are the ones that aged the most poorly compared to their later games. Yeah, the first time I ever heard of the ZX Spectrum was back in 2022-2023 when I got my Xbox and was going to play Rare Replay. I’d assume the Spectrum had more of an impact in the UK than the US of course!

Sucks a ton this time, but I think any game getting cancelled sucks because some of them genuinely sound like they have potential and have interesting ideas and concepts, so seeing a ton of games under Microsoft getting canned lately sucked, but I feel like that the writing was unfortunately on the wall when the games never got updates. It seemed like in Rare’s case, the game was cancelled because the developers kind of had nothing to show in the past 11 years and they found it was taking too long, but it still stinks anyway…but im also curious about the other games that said got cancelled, because Microsoft said unannounced games were canned alongside announced games while also saying more than 40 games are currently being worked on.

That’s right, they did close Tango down but another company came in and purchased the studio, so they’re good now I still haven’t tried Hi-Fi Rush but them deciding to shut them down even after they released a really well-received exclusive (at the time) was bizarre, plus Microsoft said they want to try and appeal to Japan, and Tango was the first (and only) Japanese studio they owned, so they could’ve helped with Xbox gaining a Japanese audience by making games that appeal to them.

Funnily, I’m actually getting spoiled on Instagram and not YouTube, which is where people usually get spoilers for films, shows and games. It still sucks I got spoiled though, but at least it’s only a bit. When you play Bananza, I hope you enjoy it, I can’t imagine how much fun it’ll be! It looks super fun. Well, I see headlines here that it’s apparently been rated, so maybe something soon I guess…I wonder if it’ll be in a Direct or just a small announcement.

Thank you, I just have been feeling negative at times and slightly down sometimes. I sometimes feel like I’m too biased and in favor of myself, but I think I just need to stop being so negative and going straight to negativity all the time. It’s also because I enjoy being self-deprecating too…I have a ton of habits to break, and negativity is one of them.

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Sorry I haven't been on as much, I've been anxious lately. The whole YouTube AI age verification has me worried. Mostly because of how it works, let's say I want to watch the YouTube Trolls shorts, the AI can determine I'm under 18 based on the fact I like Trolls, even though I'm an adult.

I like YouTube, mostly because of gaming content, gaming retrospectives, plane spotting (I have this on as I type), but I also watch cartoons on YouTube, which universally get marked as "made for kids." Not to mention, I was taught a long time ago to never share personal information online.

Yeah, been worried. The only workaround is watching cartoons logged out of YouTube, I shouldn't have to tip toe around an AI just to enjoy cartoons that I've always enjoyed. I don't have cable TV, so I usually use streaming services and watch stuff on YouTube.

On a brighter side of things, I saw Trolls Scrapbook Stories on YouTube, a series of Trolls shorts I haven't seen in years. So that was fun. Yeah this is one of those things I can only watch on YouTube since DreamWorks uploads them to the Peacock Kids YouTube channel (it was formerly DreamWorks TV).

Also, have done some gaming lately, played Trolls: Remix Rescue recently, and did some turn-based battles in Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games. Still playing games, even if I haven't done much on Switch lately.

Firstly sorry for the late response. I would say the game feels more like a $50 game too. Wasn't a bad game at all, just don't see it being worth the asking price of $80. Agreed, and I'm not against having digital games either. I like to save space for the games I want to have digitally, and have the game on the cart to have the game there and not on system memory. Plus you have to have the key card inserted into the system to play it. So it's a game you download, but you still need the cart inserted. It's the worst of both worlds, at least with digital, it just starts up. Glad you're happy with it.

Yup I have, I usually get pizza dough from my local supermarket, some sauce, cheese, and pepperoni and bake it in my oven. Comes out delicious too, plus it's fun to make. Sounds like a plan to me, at least that one sounds like it's new DLC rather than just being an "enhanced" version of the game.

It's been cooler than usual lately. Yeah, I love playing classic PC games Saturday evening and drinking chocolate milk with it, did it last night while playing Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games. Nothing like sipping chocolate milk while playing a turn-based strategy game. Cool, I remember renting F-Zero GX back in the day. That game was hard, but fun.

Edit: love the new profile pic!

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Hope you're all doing well. Still enjoying my Switch 2, and a few days ago I even got to have a nice walk in the park. They even have a merry-go-round there, which I did ride, and it was so much fun!

@Pastellioli Yeah, photo references definitely come in handy for when you're drawing. It's worth picking the best ones for whatever piece you're making as well. I do want to try to draw characters at different angles too... particularly at a diagonal angle.

Thanks, I'm glad I took that painting class, even though it's not exactly my favorite way to make art, lol. I remember the walnut oil I'd use would get sticky as well. I prefer drawing over painting since it's not as messy, haha. Markers are easier to use for sure, I used to love using them as a kid.

Ah, that's understandable... I can relate to that. Similarly, I've made attempts that didn't exactly go my way. It's weird, I'd have a good vision for what I'd make in my head, but when I make it, it can sometimes turn out a little different. I can always try again if I'm not satisfied with how it turns out.

I can relate to that feeling for team-based games. I generally do my best in online games, but if I lose too much, I would sometimes think I'm not doing too great. I'd play worse if I get too frustrated as well, if that happens, I would just stop playing. I didn't play too much in the last Splatfest because of that. Oh, speaking of water, I would sometimes drop into the little water holes by accident in Mahi-Mahi Resort. In general, I'd sometimes get one-shotted by charger players too!

That's cool, I think I remember those music levels too. I do understand what you've described, no worries. Gotcha, not sure if I'd be super into Rare/Ultimate's ZX Spectrum games, but I'd at least try them out for curiosity's sake. I think I've first heard of that system back in 2011 when I got that aforementioned Retro Gamer magazine. That magazine was also from the UK, so being in the US myself, I don't know how I managed to have it.

Agreed. Seeing games get cancelled is sad for sure... plus the developers would essentially have all their hard work be for nothing. Sonic Xtreme is another example I can think of. It was going to be a 3D Sonic game for the Sega Saturn, but the dev team making it (I think it was Sonic Team?) had a brutally difficult time making it. It's a shame it got canned too, since the Saturn never had a mainline Sonic game... and I think it was a big reason why that console did not sell too well outside of Japan. Going back to Microsoft, it makes me wonder what the heck is going on there, lol. I wonder if people are losing interest in Xbox now, besides the Game Pass service.

Oh that's lovely that Tango is around again. Yeah, that decision of Microsoft's makes no sense at all. It's like they tried to shut them down because it wasn't a triple-A game, or something like that. I could be wrong, but it's just a wild guess on my end.

Ah gotcha, that is a bit weird for sure. People love showing spoilers on YouTube when a game comes out, lol. Thanks, I'm playing Bananza now and I'm having a great time with it.

You're welcome. It takes practice to break free from negativity, but I know you can do it. I used to be hard on myself, too... I was an unfortunate victim of being bullied in school years ago and my self-esteem took quite a few hits. But it's gotten better now that I'm doing self-love, by just being myself, enjoying my hobbies, and the like. Self-love is a wonderful thing, and I encourage it to everybody simply by writing about it. Remember that the more positive you are, the more positive things you get back.

@Sunsy Ouch, sorry to hear you've been feeling anxious. I did see that other post of yours about that YouTube AI thing... really don't like that they're doing that. The way it can guess how old you are if you watch family-friendly stuff, and then be like "you can't watch this, you're not old enough," I just don't like that feeling at all. And you have to show your picture or ID when it's wrong? Are these guys for real? No thank you! There's no way I'm doing that! As somebody who also likes family-friendly things, that really upsets me too... it's just really, really bad. I'm gonna have to stop right there... back to positivity.

That's nice you got to see Trolls Scrapbook Stories, as well as playing those two games you've mentioned. I've never played Jagged Alliance, but I did play a few other games like it, like Advance Wars and Shining Force. Though, whenever I play turn-based strategy games, I tend to overthink a ton. Still enjoying my Switch 2 over at my end. Not related to games, but I did take a nice walk in the park recently, and I even got to ride the merry-go-round that they had. It was so much fun!

You're good on the late response, don't worry about it. Yeah, hopefully we'll see it on sale later down the road, or give it a big content update of sorts. Kind of like they did with New Horizons, it had a pretty big free update back in 2021. Yeah, I did see you have to have the game key card inserted to play it after it lets you download the game... that's just silly. May as well just buy the game from the eShop instead.

Oh that's cool you've made that pizza on your own, and that sounds delicious for sure. Yeah, it's essentially DLC. Mario Party Jamboree's Switch 2 edition is sort of like that too, since you'd get a couple new modes and the mouse-controlled minigames. That one does look all right, the team mode for the main game looks fun, and Carnival Coaster does look like a fun side mode (despite my crippling fear of roller coasters...) but I'd rather get that on sale.

It's been getting a bit hot again here recently, but I'm doing all right. You're making me want chocolate milk now, haha. Yeah, F-Zero GX is really hard, but I loved playing it as a kid. Still have my copy of it after all these years and it's cool it's now on the Switch 2's GameCube catalog.

Thank you! I wanted to have Peach as my profile picture for a change. Been playing as her a lot in Mario Kart World and this was actually from when I got 1st in an online race. Me and Peach won that race for you.