Breaks my heart to hear him mentioned in the same context as trump.

"While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free..."

I agree with you, but I think this is more an issue with the way crypto and its advocates have firehose-marketed that corner of technology, than an issue with laymen who aren't interested. Crypto, web 3.0, etc. have been hyped as the future of the internet, coopting general concepts like decentralization as belonging to scheme-y crypto stuff rather than just a principle that crypto (ostensibly) aligns with.

I never got into any of that myself and am hyper-skeptical of it, but (hopefully) I know enough to determine that the Fediverse is not on the same plane as all that. I also wouldn't blame anyone who can't tell the difference.

I've mentioned this game before recently, but I just finished Gris and am absolutely smitten in a rare way. It's very short, simple, and relaxed (no fail states), but it's got probably the most beautiful art direction and score I can remember. That being said, it does also wind up doing some pretty interesting things with its simple mechanics too.

You can finish it in a few hours, but there's a draw to return again just to sink back into the world, cause... It's just pleasant there.

Happy to spread the word! If you do wind up giving it a shot I hope you enjoy it.

Kind of hoping someone comes in and says "have you heard about x game that's super similar DA:O" and that I haven't heard of it, cause I agree with you and I'd love to have that experience again fresh.

Subnautica was the first survival-crafting game I played and I became obsessed in large party because of how finally tuned crafting and progression was. Now I keep trying a bunch of other similar games hoping they grip me like Subnautica, but they never come close. No Man's Sky was closest but it's too big and unfocused. I went from repairing my little broken ship to owning an entire freighter in like 2 hours.

Much like how I keep buying racing games hoping something will click like the old burnout games, I'm coming to realize I don't think I like the genre that much, I just liked that one special entry within it.

Well, if you wouldn't mind, I'd love to get some more of your top picks for the others, especially tech and film (been a Lindsay Ellis fan for years and am also fond of creators like Pop Culture Detective, Just Write, Thomas Flight, and lots more).

Who are your favorite essayists for games? I'm keen on Monty Zander and Noah Caldwell-Gervais, as well as Chris Davis.

You know, I think I knew that from the beginning but I have spent too much time spinning my wheels thinking maybe I'm just missing something.

Glad to hear they took it out for LJ though lol.

Can I ask then: on the Fediverse, what distinguishes something like Lemmy from kbin? They can presumably...federate with each other, so what's the distinguishing factor? Is a Lemmy instance fundamentally different in some way than a kbin instance (I only just found out about kbin and originally though it was a Lemmy instance, but now I'm not sure).

Thanks, that does fill in some pieces!

I have a Fitbit versa 3 that I also use for a very limited number of things, but those things are critical for my day to day:

• notifications: my phone is always on vibrate, id never know when I was getting messaged or called without it.
• alarm: I wake up before my partner, who has sleep issues, so it's perfect for that, reliable and unintrusive.
• sleep tracking: I'm not sure I trust the specific numbers (although generally I do think it's pretty accurate), but it is helpful for establishing a baseline and informing me if the reason I feel like garbage is because I didn't get enough sleep or not.

And actually I think that's it. I thought there was more, but that pretty much covers it. Oh also, sometimes helping with calories tracking.

Never heard of this. Excited to see some impressions, looks interesting.

Really? I've been moderately underwhelmed by the combat in Judgment, in large part because Yagami feels so slow compared to Kiryu. But it's a small complaint, I'm mostly happy to get back into active combat after Like a Dragon, which was neat for a while, but the turn-based style got stale with all the street encounters.

But if Lost Judgment is even better I'll be looking forward to it.

I loved Dragon Age 2. It was a far departure from the first game which was unfortunate, but it was different in a way that I really wound up liking (overlooking the repeated maps and other shortcuts). And it explored the lore in interesting new ways that weren't really possible from the perspective of the grey wardens in the first game.

I bought Gris after the Neva reveal trailer. It's truly one of the most beautiful games I've ever played, and the score is just as noteworthy.

I actually did play Pillars of Eternity and was quite fond of it, except that I eventually had to give it up because I reeeaaalllly suck at the real-time-with-pause combat at that scale, and I just got stuck.

Months later it dawned on me that I could have just dropped the difficulty level, but I had forgotten too much about what was going on and couldn't get back into it.

I actually have heard that before and have wanted to try! Unfortunately I've only had playstation consoles with the exception of the 360. I was actually planning on eventually getting a series x or s to play their exclusive stuff (particularly from Arkane), but if things keep turning out like Redfall I may reconsider.

Shaun and Contrapoints are two of my three holy trinity for politics and culture too, with Folding Ideas being the third. I'm looking forward to checking out the rest, thanks for taking the time to put these together!

Omg lol, so many recommendations in that thread. Video essays are back on the menu boys!