Rants / Reviews / Random thoughts
Contents
Some "rants" about badly designed products etc. stuff that
could fit into a blog article but not really technical. May also
put some wild thoughts in there and reviews.
Headphones
Headphones i tried over the years, started to use them in mid
2010s, before that i was using M-Audio AV40 speakers and before
that cheap speakers that come with PCs. Mostly seek flat frequency
response (neutral / clean sound), durability and comfort, low to
mid price level.
Superlux HD662F
My first headset was a carefully selected (price / quality)
closed back Superlux
HD662F, i was quite satisfied for some times from this cheap
buy in term of quality and durability, my main wish was a 'studio'
quality / monitoring headset so i mostly wanted a neutral frequency
response and good comfort, this kind of headset can go crazy in
term of price but the HD662F delivered all of this for me, it
seemed to have good frequency response curve from tests i saw on
boards.
Sadly the HD662F wasn't perfect, mine had cables fraying issue
after 7 years of usage which was a minor issue since it worked but
it sadly started to have cable connection issues as well so i
decided to buy another one since they were pretty cheap.
The second HD662F had connection issue after 2 years of usage
which was quite frustrating since the first one lasted much longer,
i don't know if it is build related (bad luck) or perhaps
aggravated by my setup since i had a different desk / chair between
both and the long cable was often stuck below my chair
wheels.
There was perhaps quick fixes to solve the issue but i thought
it was a design issue anyway, an easily replaceable cable entirely
solve this case (with a minor bump in price) thus i started to look
for a headset with a replaceable cable.
Ear pads durability was good although they are quite low in
term of comfort, i changed them only once for the 7 years
case.
All in all this cheap headset would have been the most durable
if the cable was entirely replaceable !
Rode NTH-100M
I chose this headphone due to 3 factors :
- replaceable cable due to my experience with the Superlux
HD662F
- has support for the NTH-Mic condenser microphone which was
attractive as i could use it in audio conference instead of my
phone, seemed good quality as well so i could perhaps use it for
other stuff
- brand / price (way more comfortable cushion, build quality due to better materials / experience etc.)
It was much pricier (8x more, ~240€ with accessories) than the
Superlux although still quite attractive for all it does compared
to other products on the market,
sound quality seems quite good.
I also needed to buy the VXLR mini-jack 3.5mm to XLR adapter
also sold by Rode (didn't plan for this though !) and use the
splitter cable to have both mic / audio on my ONYX Producer 2-2
audio interface. (don't forget to switch +48V button to have
correct audio level for the mic)
First feels were awesome, i thought it was of much higher
level than the Superlux in term of comfort or even overall quality
and features. It also had adjustable headband compared to the
Superlux.
Then issues appeared, there was cracks on the plastic part
that hold both earcup after less than 2 month and it eventually
broke completely, this really frustrated me due to the price and
since i thought Rode was a quality brand and would design durable
products with all the experience they got...
this eventually broke completely
It seems it is either bad luck product with production issue
or a design issue again with too little product testing, my feels
goes to the second case as i feel the parts that hold the earcup is
quite thin for all the pressure it may experience, this is also a
global issue, many peoples reported such thing with this product
and Rode was forced to apply lifetime warranty on the product...
which looks like they are quite aware of this.
There is a cheaper solution than going for a replacement
fortunately : the almighty duct tape !
So i Just duct taped this part with several layers, the fix is
great and hold the part without issues, it remains flexible so
there is no disadvantage except aesthetics.
my fix, 100% working and durable, back to
usable product again
Another design issue is that my hair sometimes get stuck into
some movable plastic part.
Even for all the features the Rode has i still think the
HD662F managed to be way more reliable than the Rode although not
easily repairable.
The durability issue is quite a big mistake all in all, it
cancel out the usefulness of the headset modular
design...
Early 2024 update : Now have a wiring issue as well sometimes
(sound in only one ear)... what a shitty product ! RIP 23 / 09 / 24
: lasted a bit more than a year with the fix... may have lasted
longer with more fixes (there is 3D printed replacement brackets
available) or applying the not so advantageous lifetime warranty
but i didn't care.
There is workarounds to make a fresh one more reliable but it
still looks like a very fragile headset (plus dependence) and it
doesn't have internal replacement parts so i don't recommend it, a
pity because it felt really great with useful features.
It looks like Rode redesigned the brackets as of 2024 but
didn't test.
Dependence on two accessories (~70€) for the mic. made me
realize that relying on the headset alone is a smarter choice. It
offers more flexibility and there is no useless proprietary stuff
around if the headset breaks. Counterargument is that having a
replaceable built-in quality mic. is still quite
convenient.
beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80
Ohm
Next headset i bought after the NTH-100 disaster, much cheaper
since i didn't go for a built-in microphone, i was looking for
sturdiness first and independent availability of most parts.
I did consider a Sennheiser HD-25 as an alternative, it is
well-known and also cheaper / repairable / modular (+ portable) but
it didn't look as comfortable so feared it was a major
setback.
The DT 770 feels great, it sounds cleaner and perhaps more
neutral than the Rode, the build is way sturdier (plastic & metal)
and repairable although a bit less modular (no detachable cable)
but independent parts are available so i thought it was okay.
Comfort is good, feels a bit harder than the Rode so a slight
early impression of a setback (rigid) but still close and it does
not hurt with long hairs. Potential issue is heat as mine has
fabric ear pads so it feels a bit warm, they can be swapped for
different pads though.
Isolation seems great, slightly better than the Rode
perhaps.
JBL Quantum 100
Cheap buy to replace the NTH-100M for audio conference /
gaming, should perhaps have gone for a Superlux but wanted to try
other manufacturers and didn't put much thoughts on this anyway,
early feels are okay.
Sound quality is okay for the price, a bit muddy perhaps but
just as i'd expect from cheap stuff, has a mute toggle button (not
gonna use it) and audio level change gear.
The build is cheap of course with plastic parts all over and
bare minimum comfort but the pads and sturdiness seems good
anyway.
The overall build is pretty much the same as the JBL Tune
750BTNC to reduce production cost perhaps, the later just have more
control buttons and minor differences in details, i don't know if
it share similar internal components though.
Plantronics Backbeat PRO 2
I bought this wireless headset in 2018 for office usage and
when i travel, i was mainly attracted by the noise cancellation
feature, it was fairly cheap at the time (cheaper than the cheap
Rode above) with seemingly good build quality.
Sound quality was not a focus but it is correct anyway,
focusing on bass, sometimes has too much bass though which is
somehow the trend for this kind of headset, the noise cancellation
feature is ok for the price although not very powerful.
All in all i think it is a mediocre to okay headset although
bad for audio conference (due to Bluetooth
profiles issue), i especially like the nice and comfortable
cushion, there is two product issues after years of usage :
- the soft cushion although very comfortable (even compared to the Rode) are not durable at all, replaced them 3 times after 4 years and i don't use this headset often, would probably needs to be replaced every 6 month with frequent usage...
- has a head mounted detection feature which cut the output off
automatically if unmounted, this feature is very hit and miss for
me, too sensitive and cannot be disabled as far as i
know...
After some years of usage the head mounted detection feature
is worse than it was leading to many frustrated moments where sound
output is cut after some light head move... a bad product design
all in all and i wouldn't recommend this headset for this alone
unless it is used as wired but there might be better choices
then.
Video Games
Mass Effect 1, 2, 3
vs Star Control 2
Always wanted to play Mass Effect since its release in late
2007 and finally took it to completion in 2024, it was well
received at the time, some peoples compared it to Star Control 2
(1992) and i can see why since there is similarities although in 3D
(mako, planets gameplay, lore or even music) and with a shooter
gameplay, it is a good game to my opinion especially for a 3D game
in late 2007... but it didn't have the same impact on me as when i
played Star Control 2 in early 2010s and here is why :
- the beginning was tiresome and boring, being stuck in the
citadel for a while... for me the game start once you gain access
to space
- the lore felt restricted, it is not as wild, diverse and fun as
Star Control 2, it is well made but it is way too conventional;
shallow, generic, obvious and boring, follow norms too much, too
human-centric
- gameplay was tiresome and i felt some parts were made by
sadists... such as the heavily repetitive planets gameplay with the
mako, especially on worlds with huge hills... another tiresome
gameplay thing was the melee rushing enemies or the rocket launcher
abusive ones when the player doesn't even have the equivalent
weapon to counteract; why ? also explosives everywhere (same in
ME2)... perhaps the gameplay just didn't age well and they were
still figuring stuff out at the time, anyway it is pretty mild for
a FPS, i didn't like backtracking as well especially in ME3 (fast
travel option in Citadel still require some amount of walking
probably made to lengthen the game)
- i dislike the abuse of invisible walls everywhere to prevent
the player from falling (same in ME2 and 3), this impact the
gameplay in Mass Effect because the player path is often blocked
for no reasons
- the copy pasted buildings / spaceships interior is mediocre, same as backtracking... i see all this as a cheap development / budget trick typical of these game studios doing business
- the cities are actually pretty limited size wise, you'd expect
a huge area but no, many invisible walls etc. same in ME2, it does
a great job at appearing as bigger though
- the UX was bad... especially the inventory or when skipping
dialogs, the HUD UX was ok, this improved a lot in the
sequels
- it was not as lively, one thing i enjoyed greatly in SC2 was
the dynamic map with the enemies slowly progressing as you play and
which can eventually wipe all the galaxy out, it is admittedly a
pretty hardcore feature though and required me to do the game a
second time because i wasn't aware of this at first :D, there is
choices to make sometimes in ME (more in ME2) but it is focused on
characters with bits of romance, choices are carried over to the
sequels though which is a nice feature.
One thing that Mass Effect does very close to the SC2 vibe is
music, i find it pretty similar at times but again perhaps too
smoothed out, it still doesn't reach the same high as SC2 music to
me because SC2 music was a crowd-sourced
effort, it has huge diversity. In Star Control 2 tracks were
composed by various folks of the MOD community adding huge
amount of personality and identity to the game (same for fonts,
graphics etc.), from ambient to industrial, rock or electronic
music, it has this unique crafty feels with quality variations
(even goofy !) that is difficult to expect from a rising 2000s
video game company doing usual business.
Now SC2 isn't perfect as well, it has a similar boring
beginning with the spaceship being very slow (especially the slow
rotation) and has balancing issues but the lore and exploration
kick off way faster and the exploration is actually necessary for
survival and progression, exploration is also the main initial goal
by finding out what is out there (because it is the first time
humanity step out outside their home system), exploration is fun by
adding arcade elements instead of gimmicks, this hook me quite
early in SC2 along with the ambient vibe, it has an immersive vibe
with few stuff holding it apart and parts of that is also because
of how it begin. Planets gameplay can also be seen as repetitive
later in game but still has more variations, hazards actually do
something.
On the lore side SC2 is just amazingly more varied and fun
than ME, i can see why, it would be very difficult to transcribe
SC2 lore in a full 3D game (and risky), that is perhaps why all
smart aliens in ME (and the ones you interact with the most) are
mostly all humanoids... they are also quite similar in term of
personality.
All in all i enjoyed some parts of Mass Effect 1 due to the
sheer amount of references of the story such as Babylon 5,
Battlestar, Tron, Dune, War of the worlds, Firefly, Star Trek, Star
Wars and of course SC2 and some planets environments but overall it
didn't provide anything new for me and the gameplay was cumbersome
most of the time for a shooter / RPG, it was a good start though,
the side missions and space opera story and the way it unfold is
okay but took some times to get in, the lore lacks huge amount of
diversity though.
Mass Effect 2 : Played it to the end and i liked some
parts of it but it carried over far too long (same in 3), the UX
style felt heavier although overall simpler but the gameplay is
slightly better overall, hack games were fun although not really
challenging after a while and thus doesn't serve any purposes, the
galaxy map actually looks more like SC2 (you can go around with the
spaceship) but they removed the Mako (they replaced it by the
Hammerhead which has a linear and mediocre gameplay), planet
landing is just regular linear missions now, this part wasn't
perfect in ME1 but i liked the vibe of barren planets environments
and exploration, the planet scan is tedious and doesn't offer
anything in term of gameplay (did they took that idea from Ironseed ?), planet
scan is even useless because if you are like me scanning all the
planets obsessively you will get way too much useless resources,
the scan only serve the purpose of finding side missions after a
while, so much wasted time ! Soundtrack seems to be of lesser
quality also (often dimmed into the background), i didn't like the
endless waves of enemies in some missions which felt like a loose
way to lengthen the game, there is also very limited variation in
enemies, the characters unlocking and loyalty system was quite fun
though (common in BioWare games, i liked this as well in
Dragon Age: Origins), most liked character is perhaps the
Geth one since it is a bit refreshing and a nice surprise (too bad
i lost it at the end), the Overlord mission was also nice with a
huge reference to System Shock. The
ending was okay although not as epic as i thought, there is choices
to make at least.
Mass Effect 3 : This one has a story that is the closest to
Star Control 2 (i even think that the Leviathan are a bit like the
Ur-Quan, a direct reference), i liked the story and how it unfold
with allies / war assets that you need to gather through
exploration (with cool surprises), this is a part that feels very
close to SC2, we see more of the Prothean past (too bad that they
are just smarter Krogans), the galaxy map has improved with less
hassle on scanning etc. i don't really know if the gameplay
improved, perhaps it feels a tad better (with the cover system) and
varied, the world is also slightly more detailed with some
impressive environments such as underwater (although short),
soundtrack is a bit more like the first, the EDI part was fun, i
like the scale of the reapers invasion which is quite similar to
the Ur-Quan one. The turrets placing enemies early on is just plain
annoying game design though and it goes back to the rocket launcher
abusive mob of the first one... feels like a cheap trick to ramp
the difficulty of the game, it is at least slightly avoidable by
focusing on the engineers, enemies also roll a lot when they are
hit as an avoidance trick and this is again quite annoying because
it feels cheap, there is also the usual close combat rushing
enemies and rocket launcher ones that are annoying, the enemies AI
is perhaps better in this one but that is because of all the cheap
tricks the game use to make fights harder, i disliked many of the
fights in this game due to this (and especially the arena fights
although it is fun sometimes), i disliked most Cerberus related
missions (too much and too samey) and the clone one (even if fun)
was dumb as hell... because the fight didn't make sens at all and
goes on far too long, bit likes playing mid 90s boss fights.
The trilogy story added up is good and the end of Mass Effect
3 was quite satisfying at least, i chose the synthesis ending
(could also have the "perfect" one) and it was very cool although i
have trouble to make any sens of it because even though it seems to
be the best ending to me the cut scenes that are shown after etc.
doesn't make much sens anymore with this option, perhaps it would
have been better if this was all abstracted away (which is what
happen with SC2), there is still some fun wild Eldritch theories
around though, i find similarities in this with my other favorite
games such as Secret of Mana where many stuff are abstracted away
compared to Seiken Densetsu 3 (the follow up) so the story may
feel very naive but the world feels vivid to me because it is not
explained (and you don't get much hints either unlike SD3) so
imagination kicks in and there is an adaptive coherence, less flaws
(less risks too) and then it all depend on how the player perceive
the given game world, it will be more personal, it is more akin to
a book in its own form instead of trying to be exactly like a book
with some added up elements.
So final verdict on all ME after ~119 hours put in ? They are
definitely okay space opera for the year they were released but
with severe gameplay flaws (shooter part is quite mediocre for all
versions, backtracking, AI of allies is completely off), it
improved a little on each iteration though, BioWare focus on
characters and the choices you make with all the animated sequences
is perhaps where it shine although the lack of overall diversity
and craziness bothered me, all the 3D stuff (animation, environment
etc.) is quite good (cannot replace imagination though !), i feel
like the lore was much more restricted than SC2 but i guess that is
the limitations of going 3D with all the quirks it
imply, still a bit weak to me as is but there is a great game
to be done if the 3 were mixed together with some changes and more
wackiness, perhaps i should have spent all this time looking at the
story through YouTube videos just like i did with Doom Eternal
instead of playing it since the gameplay was not that
good.
Visions of Mana
I am fond of the Mana series for
various reasons, mainly nostalgia perhaps but i still think the
first ones (Secret of Mana
and the one after that) were very innovative RPG
(incredible coop mode, circular menu system, varied gameplay, tech)
and sported huge amount of diversity, i especially love the OST and
the vivid overall art style with aesthetics and theme reminiscent
of Hayao
Miyasaki works such as
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, it has beautiful
illustrations made by
Hirō Isono, it is heavily inspired by Japanese spiritual
traditions of course with focus on nature but still seemed a bit
different (read: a bit weird !) than what was available at the time
in many areas even though the story is kinda non-existent and
characters are dry, the player is a random adopted kid who
stumble upon a magical artifact after getting bullied and is then
exiled from his small town... it starts like this, totally
unimpressive and bland ! it somehow works because it doesn't give
much at all even later so all the mystery is well kept, the player
is just left to explore a vivid and diverse outside world with a
gameplay that feels awesomely paced and challenging, imagination
just kicks in to fill the rest.
The first game wasn't perfect at all with many issues such as
blocked teammate (pathfinding) that prevent you to walk further or
minor balance issues but i remember it fondly anyways due to that
being a fraction of the game.
Visions of Mana surf on the original vibe of the Mana series,
it is unrelated to any other games (a tradition) but it keep the
theme with the Mana tree and spirits story and a similar bestiary
with huge amount of nods to the series, it is an excellent game but
still not reaching the same height as the first ones to me.
Note : this is an early review. (half game)
Some initial issues which bother me :
- game is slow to start and it seems slightly easier than before
(in hard difficulty !), there is much less bosses in the first few
hours and the game pace seems different perhaps to lengthen the
game, bosses were attractive in the original Mana series as a way
to rhythm the game and keeps the engagement going with much harder
encounters placed at some key points of the adventure, the flow
felt great all along
- story is a bit weak, i didn't like the too easy "Soul guard"
trope of the main character, the Mana tree pilgrimage is okay, the
human sacrifices part is kinda strange in the way it unfold but
somehow okay after some hours, characters are a bit familiar at
least
- monsters are in some specific areas of the map, quite classical
in this sort of game but... maps can be huge and this spawn system
doesn't work as well with big maps, understandable but a
conservative choice
- UX / controls are a bit confusing sometimes but it is a minor annoyance
- no coop ? game does almost everything likes the first game but
drop the innovative coop mode... while being tailored for it, guess
it wasn't worth it from the developers standpoint
it has some great things though :
- 3D art is incredibly expansive with lush natural landscape,
urban areas are also impressive, i'd say it match the first games
but tailored for 3D, with prominent depth and details, models are
good although i prefer 2D ones due to details being abstracted
away
- many nods to the earlier games everywhere (monsters,
environments etc.) even though it has an unrelated story
- could have listed invisible walls as an issue since they didn't
try to hide them but the game world is vast, it sometimes feels
like an open world, invisible walls vanish rapidly as a minor
annoyance
- fighting gameplay felt great (especially after mid game),
gameplay is reminiscent of the first games, fast with huge amount
of ways to fight and a dense class system even if a bit confusing
at times
Although not really an issue side quests are a mere anecdote,
they doesn't add much except a cheap way to engage with areas
exploration and gain money for weapons / armors progression, same
with hidden items, still okay but disposable, there is some amount
of back tracking.
OST was okay.
A beautiful, polished 3D Mana game overall but has few
innovations, they went for a bit of fan service i guess which is
okay but too conservative.
Din's Curse
The gameplay of this game is... cursed ! This game is a Diablo
1 clone with light town management thrown in, i love the concept
(shared by all Soldak
games btw!), raw aesthetics and overall world dynamics (quite feels
like a "living" world) but come on... it is not fun at all unless
you like to be punished constantly by the game designer, it is too
dependent on character build (+ randomness) and the monsters
respawn hellfest is just infernal, in the end you just end up
wasting huge amount of time bashing endless amount of monsters to
get random quests completed with town attack event in between if
you fail to do them in time so if you are in the middle of
somewhere and an event happen you end up having to backtrack to
town and hope that no important NPC was killed, sometimes your
quests just fail a few seconds after you took it (failure is
literally embedded in the design which is ok but the result is lots
of backtracking and wasting time), rinse and repeat etc... just
tiresome, can see huge potential in co-op though !
The 2019 sequel Din's Legacy is much more fun to me,
it share the same ideas but i found it much more fair and balanced,
it is a Diablo 2 clone so not just limited to underground dungeons.
Also recommend Drox Operative games which is Diablo as if it was in
space with some 4x
ideas !
About Soldak
games: Not really a rant but i find all their game interesting
design wise even if they have some flaws because they are all based
on the same niche concept that they iterate on since mid 2000s,
they also share the same UX and the axiom of their idea somehow
works as in all their game share that unique 'living' feel, it give
them a distinct character.
Quick reviews log
Started in late 2024 as a way to keep track of stuff i watch /
play, mainly influenced from stuff i read about, sometimes from
random recommendations.
Movies
- Kill,
Baby, Kill (1966); gothic eerie vibes all along with character
and a stylish use of light / colors, has incredible moody ambience
and fun / surprising scenes such as the doppelgänger or the spiral
staircase one, also liked some of the weird camera uses (swing) and
all the dream like (nightmare ?) scenes with the accompanying
effects (distortions, swirl etc.), all of this plus the nicely done
ghost actions contribute to the movie constant eeriness /
ominousness, it always deliver something interesting on screen and
the scenery are really cool even the usually boring houses
!
- Zootopia
(2016); impressive animation film, funny (furry !) with many
excellent scenes at a good pace, fine underlying theme
- Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice (2024); some good scenes and entertainment but slow
to start, mixed feels compared to the original but definitely does
huge amount of fan service, acting felt too exaggerated at times
but still great to see more of the Neitherworld side, a good
Halloween movie nonetheless
- Planet of
the Vampires (1965); has great scenes (large skeletal remains
which somehow inspired Alien (1979) and
moody planet set), sometimes original (blending styles) but lengthy
with dull dialogues, still nicely crafted even if it looks cheap at
times, story is ok but no classic vampires there though !
- El
vampiro (1958); Ok, classic vampire trope, production quality
is good, has good exterior sets and plans but also some rough cuts,
can also see the wire on the flying bat :) somewhat slow to come,
bad actors are well chosen although it is all more about style than
substance.
- The
Craft (1996); nicely done witchcraft themed high school movie,
somewhat cheesy at times but still effective, surprising
progression / layout (dark comedy then thriller) and ok depiction
of nonconformity.
- The Fog
(1980); John
Carpenter vibe so a fantastic synthesizer score and
well-executed shots, enjoyed the eerie vibe all along and the
pacing, the story was thin but it is more about ambience.
- Black
Sabbath (1963); mildly enjoyed the anthology but still a
giallo so there is some
satisfying visually striking scenes, phone story was boring but
have nice ideas in the execution, Wurdulac story didn't
do much on me but i like some of the scenes such as the ruins
although the idea of hiding from the dead in an abandoned and messy
monastery was a funny cliché, "The Drop of Water" is the best part
with creepy scenes and stylish visuals.
Video Games
I used to discover many games through video
game magazines in the past, this was cheaper than buying video
games directly, this trend was followed with bundle packages
in the digital age, a disadvantage of all these games is that they
pile up quickly and one just don't have enough time to play all of
them, a way to exploit this differently is by picking up a random
game from time to time and play it for some hours, i discovered
many surprising games that way !It is also fun for old games to dig into the now defunct
manuals and discover their depth, discovered plenty features this
way that i wasn't aware of at the time, some of these manuals were
incredibly detailed.
- Banished
(2014); survival city builder with a focus on resisting harsh
environmental conditions, smart concept and pace works great with
horizontal game design, game starts with few peoples and grow
naturally from there, it is peaceful at times but the early game
can be hard (on population transition, harsh events such as
diseases etc.), doesn't have huge amount of content nor end goals
but still nicely crafted, the few elements it is based on hold it
all together
- Prey
(2017); "highly polished / modernized half-life"
(incredible vibe with creative level design, less of a shooter and
more of a problem-solving / RPG game), always wanted to play Prey
from friends recommendation (first one also but didn't try yet) and
finally did, a satisfying experience overall with outstanding level
design and amazing gameplay mechanics, very immersive in survival
mode and quite challenging, story is ok (survival horror), lots of
gameplay possibilities, not really a fan of all the jump scare
though although it is not as bad as some games
- Risk of
Rain 2; coop action game with rogue like elements, quick
condensed refined fun with good amount of content, fast and very
accessible, pleasant boss fights and pace, gameplay based on
survival with a concept around play duration, quite effective
Cel shading
style, very enjoyable overall !
- Europa 1400:
The Guild; medieval life / economy simulation game with funny
takes, turn based / real-time mix, emphasize role-playing and has
highly non-linear gameplay, wanted to play this since a long time
as i was quite fascinated by it (same for
Patrician series and similar games...), i remember that it was
mentioned as best game for years in 2000s magazines, it feels old
fashioned now but is immersive and has unique charm and blend of
ideas, key part of the gameplay is playing a medieval persona in a
small town and pursue professional, political and personal goals
with huge amount of options to do so (with opponents that try to
makes your life hard !), game doesn't end when the character die as
the game can continue with a heir ! UI is quite slow / meh, fights
are also very meh and it is a very buggy / rough game but it is fun
at times with all the options the player have to progress.
- GemCraft -
Chasing Shadows; good dark fantasy tower defense with gems that
can be combined and upgraded with spells etc. has high amount of
depth and is challenging, graphics reminds me of Diablo somehow
(mid 90s)
-
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria; ok dwarf survival
gameplay with procedurally generated Moria mines... somehow
interesting concept but fall short of fun, game emphasize
exploration, it is quite nice in this aspect although it still
feels very linear and you have to build many camps to go further
into the mines, survival gameplay was seen a million times already
though, might be nice in coop !
- Outshine; quite good (and hard) arcade typing game with
Tron like
theme
- Chicken
Invaders 5; meh, gameplay feels slow, theme has some humor,
graphics are... very 2000s, it has some charms overall and works ok
but there is wayyyyy better shoot 'em up !
- Old
World; turn-based 4x blend of Civilization
and Crusader
Kings, heavy ancient / classical era focus so has a
smaller scale than usual which have many benefits such as way more
refined gameplay (i have the same view between Shogun vs
other Total
War games), the blend of dynasty simulation with narrative
elements (choices) is a fun and welcome addition that enhance role
playing, it also spice things up since you can do well on a game
but poor choices (or events) ultimately brings chaos (internal
struggle) to your civilization that may affect its outcome,
scenarios are great such as the barbarian horde (quick to play,
fun), perhaps my favorite "historical" 4x of the last few
years
- System
Shock (remaster); didn't play the original although i knew the
lore, good, quite stylish at times, my issues with it are that
levels are way too labyrinthic and the character felt heavy to
play, tiresome inventory management also, might play a bit more
later as it is still good and some of these points may be addressed
later
- Star Wars:
Dark Forces (remaster); Doom like FPS
in the Star Wars universe, didn't play the original game but the
gameplay is good and diverse with original elements for the time,
the game engine also has nice features compared to the original
Doom and accompanying soundtrack is nice, there is some dull levels
such as the sewer level... a common type of (boring) level to have
at these time anyways
- Tinykin;
excellent 2024 surprise for me, a visually good (3D / 2D mix)
non-violent platformer with puzzle elements of reasonable length
(~10 hours total), no hassle gameplay with non boring collection
mechanism through exploration of large indoors area, seems to be
inspired by Pikmin (which i never
played but kinda want now !), theme is fun and a bit like a
Toy Story if
it was bugs, somehow reminded me of Banzai Bug (1996),
racing content added by the DLC is questionable but is still fine,
i don't recommends going for achievements as this part has many
bugs... (on PC)
- Hades;
gorgeous art style, theme and gameplay, very smooth hack and slash
with rogue-like elements, progression is felt and try hard to
lessen repetition, a greatly polished indie game with souls ! OST
is also great, can spot some Tool influence in
there !
- Disney
Dreamlight Valley; streamlined farm gameplay in Disney
universe, quite ok with lots of content and gameplay polish, like a
wilder Stardew Valley,
not as wild as Graveyard
Keeper but less stupidly grindy (well...) and more colorful,
still require way too much time...
- Dome
Keeper; sci-fi tower defense, miner roguelike, gameplay and
ambience feels great but get repetitive fast, some nice ideas /
stylized minimalist pixels graphics though
- ANNO
2070; great RTS / sci-fi city builder / trading game, horrible
Ubisoft package (online launcher etc.), feels great if ok with the
rules (they make no sens sometimes), has deep and varied gameplay
even more so with DLCs (seamless underwater DLC is innovative
!)
- Dustland Delivery; fun 2D Mad Max (truck driving
survival with a crew) RPG make your own story type of game with
lots of choices to make, open world with good trading elements and
town managements
- Vault of the Void; roguelike deckbuilder, great gameplay,
reminds me of
Slay the Spire with more rules, somewhat slower though ? grindy
content
- Creaks;
atmospheric underground surreal puzzler, can't go wrong with
Amanita
Design stylish hand-drawn art... gameplay has some Oddworld / Braid vibes
and is okay but i prefer Machinarium /
Samorost
world
- Diluvian Ultra; retro FPS with nice design and darksynth music,
gameplay is okay but didn't like it (too slow, confusing screen
action and UX), meh performance on my GTX 970 with
shadows...
- Power to the People; power grid micromanagement game, ok
gameplay but don't expect a simulation, feels more like a puzzle
game than anything else, clean minimalist aesthetic is
cool
- Strikey Sisters; fantasy themed arcade brick breaker
reminiscent of early 90s themed arcade games, local co-op mode,
polished and fun but some confusing screen actions and
repetitive
- 60 Parsecs!; sci-fi version of 60 Seconds! but way
more refined, a survival make your own story type of game with
choices to make, fun adventure game
- Wingspan; strategy game about birds based on a board game, relaxing / fast to play, cute naturalistic birds artwork, nature themed, many good feels !
Random
- Deleted videos on YouTube showing up as deleted but without
metadata anymore (title at least) is a damn plague, i had a way to
dodge that by asking for my data from time to time but they don't
even show the title anymore in the metadata... (i think they used
to ? anyway that is how they treat your data...) fortunately there
is tools...
with a bit of JavaScript to put in devtools
console to get all playlist IDs on the playlists page (once you
fetch all of them due to infinite scroll) :
var pls = document.getElementsByClassName("ytd-playlist-thumbnail")
var plsId = ''
for (const e of pls) {
if (e.tagName === 'A') {
plsId += "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=" + /(list=(.*)&+)+/.exec(e.href)[2] + '\n'
}
}
console.log(plsId) - YouTube playlist feature is quasi unusable with high amount of videos and the endless scrolling of doom unless you just change the URL... perhaps that is why they limit it to 5000 videos !
- Control freaks websites that detect ad blockers are ridiculous,
kinda funny how much time they spend trying to lock content down
with various complicated schemes and how users threatening the
whole thing is, they also often make false promises (e.g. reducing
intrusive ads), anyway they fortunately cannot do much
more than spitting to an equally technical person.
- Formal verification of software programs are a very useful
resource for maximum efficiency and reliability in defense programs
(aerospace etc.), an interesting example of how a mix of seemingly
innocent mathematics and software engineering can be reused for the
gloomy stuff (but not only fortunately), seems the main source of
funding for this in the US is (was ?) the DoD itself. Same
for AI by the way. Not new at all but a good reminder from time
to time.
- Etymology of "silicium" aka silicon is from Latin
Silex or silicis for flint, it is fun to me
that this metalloid (combining
metals and nonmetals properties) chemical element which is the
second most abundant element in the earth crust is so widely used
in computing hardware (backbone of semiconductor technology) and
relate to one of the first multi usage (almost fundamental) stone
age tool around. The fun of this relation between ancient
tool-making and modern technology was in part triggered by a
Deleuze
lesson in relation to a Rimbaud text.
Although bullshit my mind later wandered with the musing /
metaphor that the flint was somehow one of the Eden forbidden
fruit from the
tree of knowledge which enabled refined goods (such as leather
cloths) and more tools which enabled more awareness and further
refinements (the fall and man "disobedience" against its previous
nature) perhaps allowing him to "eat" from the tree of
life which might become a form of carbon and silicon
association. (AI ?) This was kinda fun as i see it as some sort of
distilled science fiction story mixed with spiritual ideas, this
was perhaps triggered by science fiction stories such as the one in
Mass Effect video game since i can see similarities, some recent
black metal lyrics also. This align more to some kind of Gnostic
interpretation (not Icke stuff heh...) but can be adapted.... (of
course... !) that view is of universal salvation (eventually) from
gathering fragments, it is more redeeming and transformative than
"usual" and ignorance there is seen as the act of forbidding the
access to the tree of knowledge, the "evilness" lie in preventing
awareness which just lead to not knowing whether own action is evil
or not (true evil is in the suppression of knowledge and
awareness), the serpent is metaphorical and may be seen as anything
adversely that trigger changes (usage of new tools !) to push
forward and self-realize. Note that even if tools are important
there, they may also suppress awareness... it is nuanced !
- Editing videos or audio is a tiresome soul crushing task !
Probably why i never made any sens of "studio" at all (and the
associated hardware / software) even though i respect the minutiae
of the peoples doing it, like the technical side of it and probably
listen and watch to a lot of heavily edited stuff, things is i
naively thought that most stuff was done live when younger and this
magic was shattered a bit later when i *got* the editing aspect,
the (probably) many hours passed in post production polishing the
end result is somewhat of a nightmare to me... couldn't conform to
that and that is why i nowadays fully go to one shot stuff (with
the unpredictable / unexpected sometimes popping up !) although i
get that editing is sometimes necessary as duct tape even for one
shot stuff.
back to top
