catalyst

@catalyst@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Silksong coming out actually motivated me to do what I’d been putting off, which was getting platinum in Expedition 33. The Simon fight was tough but fun and satisfying, then picked up any lingering journals, music disks, and Monoco skills.

  Amusingly my final trophy was the mime you can encounter during the prologue, which I had completely missed on my first time through. So I fired up NG+ mode, knocked that out for my plat trophy, and decided to watch the Gommage cutscene one more time. It still hit me just as emotionally the second time around. This game really was beautiful and it’s going to stick with me for a long time.

  With that out of the way I’m now a few hours into Silksong and enjoying it so far. The bosses I’ve encountered have been tough but not “throw the controller and rage quit” tough. But I’m sure that is coming soon, haha.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [2025, Week 37]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Haha. Yeah 100%.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [2025, Week 37]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  A while back I lamented on this community that I had tried and failed to get into Steins;Gate. Well, I gave it another shot and will say - it does get pretty good, eventually. Things start to feel more intriguing around episodes 8 or 9, and by episode 12/13 the tone shifts dramatically. That was the point where I started to actually feel invested.

  The thing about Rintaro is that he comes off as a dick for quite a while. His positive attributes don’t really start to show until later (though maybe on a rewatch I’d be more able to see glimpses of that). I also found some of the humor, particularly concerning Daru, to be unfunny and at times off-putting. It does find it’s footing though and the build to the finale was really exciting.

  Ultimately, I’m glad I came back around on this one and gave it a second shot. To quote Mayuri, do do doooo🎵.

  Having wrapped that up I scrolled through my to-watch list in search of something short and sweet, and settled on Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Ah, this will surely be a delightfully positive palette cleanser! Kidding, obviously, but I had been curious about this show for a while and this felt like the right week to dive in. I’ll likely finish the series tonight or tomorrow.

  Honestly, I like it a lot! Yes - it’s “the dark magical girl show”, but it doesn’t even feel as dark as I was personally bracing for. Like I would not say that it is edgy just for edginess sake. I also just really adore the creative, mixed-media approach to the presentation of the witches and their labyrinths.

  Next I have queued up: Serial Experiments Lain. This one doesn’t seem to be readily available on any streaming sites but I found a copy on the Internet Archive. The quality seems kind of dodgy but otherwise it’s probably fine?

  The only show I’m watching in the current season is DanDaDan, which I’ll just say is still amazing and I’m so looking forward to the next couple episodes. I hope the wait for the next season isn’t terribly long because that builds into my favorite arc of the manga.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [2025, Week 36]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  This! It gets so, so good.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [2025, Week 35]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  We watched the first three episodes of See You Tomorrow at the Food Court over the weekend. It’s, honestly, delightful. I love how it blends moments of humor, inanity, and genuine insight so fluidly.

  I could watch these two girls talk about nothing for hours.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New Key Visual for 'Dan Da Dan' Season 2⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I wondered that too. I’m actually surprised at how fast they are getting through the content. And we only have 4 episodes remaining, I think.

  Spoilers

  IF they finish the Kaiju battle, it would be fun to end it on Vamola bursting from the suit and kissing Okarun. That would make for a juicy and hilarious cliffhanger. But I could also see them stopping in the middle of the battle simply for lack of time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New Key Visual for 'Dan Da Dan' Season 2⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  So excited for this arc!! This kicks off / leads into probably my favorite chunk of the manga. Gonna be epic.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This is my answer as well!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 399 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That sounds about right. I feel like it played more like an expansion than an outright new game. I do remember banging my head against some of those tougher levels now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 399 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Good point about the music, it really was quite memorable!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 399 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I replayed Galaxy sometime around 2020 and had a lot of fun doing so. I remember liking this one quite a lot. It was also fun to let my kid who was around 5 at the time hold a remote to help collect stars.

  I’m… reasonably sure I played Galaxy 2 as well but my memory of that iteration is completely blank.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s worth it! I am still chipping away at Expedition 33 as well. I’m in the endgame portion now but just don’t have a lot of time to game at the moment. I’d like to eventually do NG+ and 100% everything.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Games Where Nothing Happens (SPOILERS for various game plots)⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Stanley walked through the red. door.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Games Where Nothing Happens (SPOILERS for various game plots)⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Was going to comment this as well! I enjoyed the story quite a bit too. Despite nothing really “happening” per se I remember the ending feeling emotional regardless.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 386 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Even with the warp ability it feels like you still have to do a fair amount of sailing because the warp locations are fairly spread out. I can see double speed helping considerably, though.

  Thinking on in some more and I guess another problem with the sailing for me is how often I had to stop and play the wind requiem. It really makes navigation a chore. I could see a mod that lets you change the wind direction much more quickly would help tremendously (maybe there is one, I have not looked).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 386 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve started this game twice. Once recently and once back when it came out. Still have not managed to finish. I always lose interest about half way.

  When I think about why that is, I think it’s what you pointed out - the sailing gets monotonous fast.

  Which is too bad cause I do think the game is otherwise very charming and fun.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted – Pre-Order Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I loved pvz back in the day, before it got junked up by EA. I have no idea what the state of the game is anymore. Curious if this would be worth playing for a bit of nostalgia.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Remembering Descent, the once-popular, fully 3D 6DOF shooter⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It really was incredible. Especially back then when I hadn’t had much exposure yet to that style of music. The fact that it was CD quality instead of midi really helped.

  I vividly remember discovering how you could just put the game disk in a regular CD player and it’d work. Kinda blew my mind lol.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Remembering Descent, the once-popular, fully 3D 6DOF shooter⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Adding this to my wish list!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Remembering Descent, the once-popular, fully 3D 6DOF shooter⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Man I friggin loved Descent II. Game was so fun and immersive. I watched that opening cinematic over and over. The soundtrack was fantastic as well.

  I later went and played Descent 1 as well but 2 was the one I played the most.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨After 18 years, a surprise Half-Life 2 update makes it once again possible to beat a honking train on Highway 17⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  There is indeed! My kid played it on the switch and loved it. Well, right up to the point where they couldn’t proceed due to a level being completely broken. They ended up having to finish the last few stages on my PC instead.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨After 18 years, a surprise Half-Life 2 update makes it once again possible to beat a honking train on Highway 17⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Wow! I somehow never knew this bug existed. I guess it’s been a long time since I played this one. 😅

  Now, how about fixing game-breaking bugs on the Switch version of Portal 2?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 369 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Man, I should revisit this one sometime.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Day 365 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing (One Year Anniversary!)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Congrats on making it a year! And Halo 3 is a great game for the occasion too.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [2025, Week 29]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  We finished Lazarus last week, and I came away unsure how I felt about it. There were enjoyable episodes to be sure, and I liked the characters well enough.

  spoiler

  First off, I called it early on - we weren’t ever gonna find Skinner until the very last minute. Nearly every episode was a red herring. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; When thinking about Cowboy Bebop, the comparison one can’t avoid, most of those episodes are also “unnecessary” as far as the overall plot (in so much as there is a plot) is concerned. So I’m inclined to say it’s not that big of a deal, and you kinda have to go into a show like this with the understanding that each episode is just it’s own little adventure that you gotta try to enjoy on it’s own merits. Now, I do think the ending was a teeny bit too convenient. You’re telling everyone in this crew just happened to have been at the airport incident, inexplicably survived, and then completely forgot? The show absolutely glosses over why they survived the bio weapon when everyone else died. I dunno, man, but this felt flimsy to me. But I think what takes the cake for me is the whole Hundan assassin subplot. The show pushed this hard, despite the fact that it only affected a minor character. There seemed to be some kind of relationship hinted at between the Hundan and Axel, by way of the necklace, but this isn’t really explored very well. This all might have made more sense to me if we discovered that Axel himself had escaped from the same assassin school, but (as far as I’m aware?) that was never revealed as such. So yeah, this assassin dude felt like a huge waste plot energy that could have been spent more wisely.

  In the end, I think I come to the conclusion that it was a mostly enjoyable show that I don’t regret watching at all but also wouldn’t rush to recommend it fully either.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam is cracking down on porn games, to keep Payment Processors happy.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Agreed, this shit sucks. The credit card companies hold far too much power over what is considered viable commerce.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Vintage gaming advertising pictures: a gallery⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  My thoughts exactly. Some of these ads are just plain weird in a way that they would never dare today.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [2025, Week 28]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Rock is a Lady’s Modesty wound up being our favorite show this season. Gosh, what a ridiculously fun watch. That finale was a blast and delivered exactly what I’d hoped for - awesome music and visuals to match, and a satisfying resolution to the arc. I sincerely hope we get more of this, though understandably it’s hard to predict; it’s like a more niche version of Bocchi the Rock, I think, and I don’t know just how strong of a fanbase there is. If nothing else I really hope we start seeing more manga chapters translated soon cause I need more of these crazy rock girls. I’d also love to see a little more merch being available.

  I posted my Gqux thoughts over in the gundam community, but overall I enjoyed it a lot. I agree with the sentiments that the two main characters were underdeveloped. I think the show would have benefited from more episodes for sure. But I did find the finale fairly satisfying regardless. While watching the episode I commented to my spouse how much I appreciated that our girls went from fighting over the boy to fighting the boy. And honestly, as somehow who just in the last ~2 years started getting into UC gundam, I was primed to be very much into this from the word “minovsky”.

  Now DanDaDan is back and I’m very excited for that. We actually went and saw the theatrical release of the first 3 episodes back in June and enjoyed it quite a bit - thought, I expect that the pacing will feel a bit better seeing them again in episode format. Was surprised to see Kinta in the EP, as I didn’t expect to make it that far in the story; Will our alien invasion sweetheart Vamola make an appearance??

  Now, what’s next? I’m not too sure. I have Gachiakuta on my watch list to check out this season, but I’d like to pick out at least 2 or 3 more shows to follow. I’m kind of at a loss though. I skimmed the summer shows list a few weeks back and nothing immediately jumped out at me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [2025, Week 28]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I want to believe we’ll get more Rock is a Lady’s Modesty. 😣

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2 | OFFICIAL TRAILER⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I love Frieren but I tend to agree. Not necessarily that I disliked cour 2, but in that I much preferred the quieter and more contemplative episodes over the shonen-y stuff. The whole exam arc for me was a bit too long.

  My favorite episode remains the one where they clean up the beach.