Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

@JohnnyShoulder 😔 I am a disappointment to the Miyazaki nation.

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN Hey mate, I’m doing well. No major issues other than the usual life struggles. I’ve definitely been stretching out my DS2 playthrough as well as being open about a few of the things that were aggravating like the poison caves and such, so I can see why you might have the impression I’m disappointed with it but I’m actually enjoying it. Maybe not on par with my enjoyment of DS1 and Bloodborne, but still quite enjoyable. Unfortunately a lot of real world issues have beckoned, as @Yousef- mentioned. One small thing is that I’ve spent quite a bit of free time the last week watching the Olympics, for example. I figure that they only come around once every 4 years so I can sacrifice a little gaming to be in the moment with the rest of the sports world. I have had a small amount of travel mixed in also that affected my game time. Also, I did bite off more than I can chew with the several games I’ve tried to juggle also, which is my fault. But most of the issue is time — not having enough of it, that is. The good news is I have a relatively open schedule coming up for a few days. Fingers crossed that I get some more time in Drangleic and beyond. 😄

@Th3solution Man I’m kinda jelly, jealous as jellybeans, jelly as a jellyfish jelly sandwich cuz me and my dad can’t keep track of the Olympics, too much life stuff >.>, no free time. I’m happy for you though.

@Yousef- I changed my top 5 rappers on my profile, replaced Ransom and Guilty Simpson with Killer Mike and Ghostface Killah. As a hip hop fan, do you think this was a good choice?

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN as a hip hop fan, it’s not my place to dictate what fellow hip hop enthusiasts should enjoy, everyone’s entitled to whatever artist resonates with them most. 😆
That said, it’s fair to assume you’re merely acquiring my own opinions on those artists and to that I say yeah great choices xD
Interesting changes for sure. I will likely make tiny changes to my own top 5 some time in the future.

@Yousef- It’s been pretty fun to watch. The men’s 1500 meter was a highlight yesterday. I was pulling for the British chap, Kerr, because of the way his rival the Norwegian, Ingebrigtsen, had been talking smack about him and pumping himself up in the media. Then when the American, Hocker, came from behind and shocked everyone by stealing the race from them both (Ingebrigtsen ended up not even medaling) it was quite a moment! Team USA typically has competitive athletes in the shorter distances but the 1500 m hasn’t really been a consistent strength so it was really fun to see that.

Of course I’m mostly interested in my home country but I still like to watch a lot of other countries’ participants and the real fascination is getting to know the human story behind many of these people. A lot of athletes representing other countries also attend school and train at U.S. NCAA Universities so I can often find someone to root for if they attend a school I like, even if they are competing for their homeland.

Each day usually has a couple event finals that interest me, but there is just so much content that I can’t conceivably watch it all. It’s kind of like the gaming situation and all the games that are out now and it seems insurmountable to play all of them that I want. The TV network will curate a replay of many of the highlights (mostly U.S. focused but sometimes other interesting outcomes and stories) so that’s a good way to get 12 hours worth of sporting events abridged down to 3 hours of TV time. However, because of the time difference, it’s hard to not get results spoiled that way and so I try to peek in during the morning and daytime hours and try to watch some events live, but that’s not really possible all the time because of my day job.

It’s great to get these athletes the attention and recognition they deserve though. They dedicate years of their lives and many hours of sacrifice training to their singular event, and all to just have their 5 minutes of fame (or years of regret and agony if they don’t perform well). Here in the U.S. they get a certain buzz for a little while, like the aforementioned Hocker and “Pommel Horse Steve”, for example, but they quickly fade back into obscurity. Even consistent champions like Katie Ledecky will be able to walk around mostly unnoticed in public in about 6 months. I’m not sure if this is that way elsewhere; I’ve heard that Olympic champions in some counties return as heroes and are set for life with government sponsored subsidy and ongoing public fame for years to come. Not sure if that’s true.

You just beautifully summed up pro wrestling 🤣.
In fact, me and Tasuki had this exact same exchange about it not really that long ago. (If you’re randomly reading this, g’day)
The bit about your job is kinda why I too am having a hard time leaving longer replies, not to mention, working on personal projects.
Surprisingly, I’m still gaming. I’m replaying a few gta stuff on pcsx2 via my steam deck, attempting to 100% them, funnily enough I do have the actual games on mind on a real psp (which I can also connect to a tv… actually maybe I should be trying that).

@Yousef- You remind me that I really need to get back in the habit of using my Portal again. I was good about taking advantage of it to ‘multitask’ and play a game while watching sports on the TV, but after the last firmware update I seem to have a less stable connection and so then I just got out of the habit.

As for Pro Wrestling, I’ve never quite understood the allure… 😅 but there’s clearly an audience!

@Th3solution oh you’re not obligated to “understand it”, I was merely relating your experiences to mine, it sounded spookily similar, is all. >.>

I’m really jelly of people who can multitask like that, I have a switch, a psp, a steam deck and an NDS and yet I’ll never see myself “play a game while watching something”, I can only fixate on one. Hell, I even try to dock everything, even have a dock for my psp! It’s third party, there’s no Sony-licensed docks as far as I’m aware.
I would presume you mean like, play stuff during bits you’re not interested in.

I hope you and I will become free more, I enjoy these chats, they’re quite relaxing, but the offline world calls for me a lot. >.>

At least I have good news. My uncle, who works in the same field that I do, (huh, feels weird to give a “my dad works at Sony” kinda comment and be sincere) and he’s been walking me through the ropes often and he’s now taught me how to “apply a vacation form”. (I’m using quotations because I dunno what I’m supposed to write there, technical English is my weakness, as you may be acquainted)
I ran into my uncle while visiting my grandma. She commented on my looks, saying I wasn’t properly groomed for my age and need to take better care of my hair. I guess I finally reached that age you where grandmas stop spoiling you. >.>
But it was all in good humor, so don’t worry I actually really had a fantastic time. I love visiting her. xDD

@Yousef- The multitasking is often hard for me also. I don’t try and watch a movie and play a game, or anything like that. Mainly it would be during sports like NFL, NBA, MLB games. There’s a lot of downtime in those, especially with commercial breaks, halftime shows, timeouts, and just the general slow pace of some of the games between plays (less of a problem with NBA). I think it will work well with Olympics because there’s often down time between events that I’m interested in. So for example I probably could have knocked out 30 minutes of grinding on a video game whilst they showed the Chinese diving team just methodically destroy the entire competition (seriously, they are like precision robots for their craft, and I mean that as a compliment. So dominant) and so it’s actually not as interesting to watch because you know they will just consistently get 8’s and 9’s. It’s all very predictable, so easy to tune out for that section.

But the video game also needs to be a game that doesn’t require heavy concentration. So it seems to work well for farming sessions, turn based combat, and walking sim type exploration games or sequences in games between major story points. I would think a musou could fit well because the gameplay is somewhat repetitive between larger story moments (….? Maybe?).

And as far as the English, “apply a vacation form” I think maybe you would mean “submit a request for vacation time” or “apply for time off” or “apply for leave time”. Lol, so in other words, there’s no one way to say it so that’s fine.

And grandmas can be that way. I know my grandma has given me feedback on my appearance before. I think she probably means well. Just be careful. They usually just expect us all to look and dress like we still live in the 1970’s.

@Jimmer-jammer Also how is the film work going? Feel like you have a blockbuster on your hands yet?

@Jimmer-jammer I wish you all the best with it, and also congratulations on your countrymen's recent achievements in the Olympics. I haven't been following them as closely as Sol, but someone told me Canada have been doing well (relay win).

@Jimmer-jammer Amen, brother. Well said.

@Jimmer-jammer Some good points well made there mate.

It is not just for live service games, I read the other day someone was glad a single player game had not been successful and that the developer was not getting any profit. Just because they didn't like the game.

I don't get that mentality, wishing ill on others simply because a game didn't gel with you. Not a good look.

Edit: And the game is highly rated too, so was not like it was a complete dud either.

@LN78 I could swear that was just some grub in the comments section!

@Th3solution Thought I'd draw this little nugget of information to your attention:
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/08/random-divisive-dark-...

Perhaps if you delve deeply enough, you can discover these hidden gems within the game.

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN Thanks, mate. I hadn’t seen that yet. I’ll surely drop some comments over on the article about my thoughts since I’m currently playing it.

Edit: Indeed, I left some expanded thoughts over there if you’re interested.

@Th3solution I read your comments/thoughts on the game and thought it was a very accurate summary of my brief experience/what I have heard about the game. Your welcome for the link and Thanks for your thoughts, mate!

Good morning.
Today is our 79th anniversary of Independence Day in my country Indonesia. ☺
I used the screenshot from ACNH to celebrate Independence Day.

MERDEKA...!

Whittled down my previous list in PS4 Backloggery & Most Wanted to this lot;

Resident Evil 2 Remake
Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition
Silent Hill 2 Remake Deluxe Edition
Death Stranding Director's Cut Digital Deluxe Edition
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Deluxe Edition
Elden Ring SOTE Deluxe Edition (aim to plat)
Lords of the Fallen
Death Stranding 2 : On the Beach
Black Myth: Wukong
Resident Evil 7 Biohazard :Gold Edition

Bringing the list over here as I wanted to add that I don't intend to play games forever, as I have an interest in exploring other things in life as I get older. and intend to take an interest in/research black art and literature after I stop gaming, (after completing the games on that list) it just doesn't make sense to me to do the same thing, outside of a vocation (counselling psychology) that I'm interested in, employment-wise, in terms of a hobby or interest, in my spare time, for the rest of my life.

Thoughts?