#10/10!!! and worth the price imo!

[lumagarden]

built egalt today!!

so far one of my favorite dragons rising sets!

[cannedquokka]

What a phenomenal game.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk was everything I wanted and more. As an OG fan of Jet Set Radio, and a diehard fan of Future, this was just...beautiful.

Please go play this game.

[caesurah-tblr]

For all of those debating wether or not to spend money on the Patreon… Do it. It is worth the $5 a month, trust me. The amount of content on the Patreon is worth more than $5.

[bedupolker]

What art program do you use? (Or if you do all traditional then uhhh favorite paint brand???)

most of the stuff I've posted in the past 10 months or so has been gouache + sharpie felt tip pen, or entirely gouache. Wet and dry achieve different looks but it's the same paint. I think the brand is Windsor & Newton which is a little lower on the price scale but they're all a little pricey... worth it IMO (sorry watercolor you just don't do it for me)

I use clip studio paint for digital coloring on traditional line art and touch ups on traditional work, but I haven't done entirely digital work in a while.

[amber-jinx]

Our girl Rachel's birthday is coming up, I've been putting in quite some effort to customise one from the collectors plush & making some improvements in the details (eyes, star tatt size & position, ear ring colour & proportion etc), whilst keeping her eyeshadow, wearable jacket, expressions etc; IF there's a chance of making more / shipping, what's your acceptable price range excluding shipping fee (it's gonna be international shipping) ? Hand-made! If you wanna customize your own, it's gonna be + ~10-39 USD on top of the set price depending on the degree of difference from the one above.

*size of the plush is comparable to the max & Chloe official plushes, but if you wanted a bigger one ofc there'll be some additional charges; smaller ones, depends cuz the details are still gonna be there)

This is the original one from ebay fyi.

It costs $199 USD there which was too much for me imo, and the eyes are too big without pupils 😂 & the hair?? (also little stock left I think)

I'm doing this mostly cuz I love Rachel & know that there aren't a lot of her plushes out there, this isn't a confirmed deal and I'll show the final product once mine is done. Just getting a sensing to see if it's worth more production 💛

Update: I see that there's interest & so yes it's possible for more production! I'll try to cater to most of the spectrum by having 2 options as well as add ons :) will do up a Google form thing for buyers to fill in all the details! Follow my Instagram account @ rachelambermerch for more updates!

Am also considering donating parts of my profit to charity after I recoup my costs so it's more meaningful 🕊️

[zahri-melitor]

What's a good Nightwing comic with good art and a good story that's worth collecting? If I were to just have one Nightwing comic, what is your recommendation of a comic line/volume to buy?

Dick, god love him, has a lot more 'just fine' comics than great comics.

My first instinct would be the Freefall storyline by Peter Tomasi (#140-146) in terms of Tomasi spins a good story and it has Rags Morales on art for the story, which is just fine. I don't entirely agree with the way Morales draws facial features but he draws perfectly reasonable comic art, rather than something stylised that is more controversial.

In terms of getting your hands on a trade, however, Freefall was collected in 2009 and then again in 2020 in Nightwing by Peter J. Tomasi, which sold out fast and hard. Having been in the market to buy this myself, I can tell you it starts at about $50USD a trade on the second hand market.

I like Chuck Dixon's work with Nightwing (#1-70 1996) and think it's essential to the character (and actually own his entire run now!). However in terms of art, over half the run was drawn by Scott McDaniel, who is an acquired taste due to cartoony style, and Greg Land did a good chunk of the remainder. Land is actually a competent artist; he just is well known for tracing and it irritates me that he relies on it when his original work is perfectly reasonable AND because he should pick different art as the basis of his tracing.

Putting all of this aside, if you pick up one trade from Dixon's run I reckon it should be Nightwing Vol 7: Shrike (#54-60) because it's a fun story, it interacts really well with Robin: Year One, and it also contains, no joke, Nightwing: Target, which is great if you need to laugh at Dick finding a way to choose the worst possible costume and hero name. It was printed in 2018 and so is still kicking around some shops, and not too difficult to find second hand.

I will always champion Kyle Higgins' n52 run, even if nobody else does; the section once he moves to Chicago (#19-30 2011) is better imo than all the Court of Owls and Halys Circus stuff earlier on. Those are collected in Second City and Setting Son; they're both reasonably priced and there are even occasional new copies still kicking around (though few and far between). Issue #29 of this run is my favourite Dick story in the entirety of the the n52.

Tim Seeley's Nightwing run (#1-34 2016): it's not my favourite but I think tonally it's the strongest section of the 2016 and it's in close conversation with Devin Grayson's run (which I have left off this list because you're not getting trades of those easily; only Mobbed Up and Renegade have been collected and of the two I'd say get Mobbed Up). The run properly picks up from issues #9-10 and the return to Bludhaven; the opening storyline is busy transferring Dick back into being Nightwing from being Agent 34, and despite being a story focused on Mary Grayson, Seeley really settles into what he wants to do from #9 where he has Dick dream talking to Tim and two different versions of Clark to find out about his other timeline connection with Bludhaven. The art is consistently good on these; it includes Javi Fernandez, Marcus To and Minkyu Jung.

If you like Dick and Damian together, you probably want Nightwing Must Die; otherwise I'd suggest Back to Bludhaven (this will give you the To art) or Blockbuster if you want to see Dick rediscovering why Bludhaven is HIS city.

I have a soft spot for Benjamin Percy's The Bleeding Edge (#44-47 2016) and the racing story following it, but I also know people are going to come for me over the Dick characterisation in it, which leans into Dick Grayson, the Luddite for details. Also it has Chris Mooneyham on art and he varies between 'fun' and 'my eyes started bleeding' for me.

Can't give you advice beyond Nightwing #61 2016 so far, sorry, which is deep into Ric territory. So I can't help you with where the best bits of Tom Taylor's run are.

[furbaspade]

--2023 Furby first Impressions--

The ebay leak was real T-T

Im not the biggest fan of this furby I wont lie but I do think its grown on me a bit. I think the main thing that annoys me about the design is the eyes, they're just too eh.

It had some suprisingly funny jokes and it asked me if a hotdog was a sandwhich. I like the behavior more than the Connect tbh. There not being an app is interesting. I certianly wouldn't pay $70 for this if I wasn't a collector. I don't think its going to sell super well but we'll see.

I will mention how nice the packaging is. It had this little key thing you pulled down to open it and its high quality.

The accesories are meh, you get a make-your-own necklace and a comb so its okay. The fur is really soft though, its like the Connects fur but longer so it is suprisingly nice to touch.

Overall, its not great imo but its not as bad as I thought. The price tag is the biggest thing. It cant ton of stuff and compared to the Furby Boom (*which was $10 less*) it definetly is not worth it at all.

Gonna try and maybe figure out how to skin it now lol

[thelordofgifs]

One characterisation choice in the fairest stars that I feel compelled to defend a little is that of Maedhros – and specifically, the way he grieves. Honestly Maedhros being both such a fandom favourite and also SO messy and complex makes him an intimidating character for little me to try to write, so I do hope he comes across in tfs as recognisably himself!

Anyway, I think after the posting of Part 10 (which ended with Curufin’s dramatic lie that Fingon and Maglor were both dead), a lot of people were expecting Maedhros to go absolutely feral and furious with grief; and the direction I chose, of grief that absolutely froze him, grief that broke him, grief that was completely disabling even before the unreality attack started, might be a little unexpected? After all, Maedhros in canon is defined by his resilience: within a few years of being rescued from Thangorodrim, he’s done some impressive political wrangling, learned to fight left-handed, and headed off to the eastern front of the war against Morgoth.

Counterpoint: Maedhros canonically responds to the loss of a loved one by freezing, messing up, or otherwise removing himself from the narrative.

A chronological list of examples:

Finwë. Okay, admittedly Maedhros keeps his head quite well on his grandfather’s death: in some drafts he’s the one who delivers the news to the Valar and (though he doesn’t realise it) his father. What he notably doesn’t do, however, is rush after Morgoth and Ungoliant in a blind quest for vengeance. That’s his father’s job! And despite some superficial similarities, I don’t think Maedhros is much like Fëanor; or, rather, I think he deliberately makes an effort to be different to Fëanor.

Amrod. Not really published silm canon, but it’s worth noting that in the Shibboleth of Fëanor version, after Fëanor realises that he accidentally killed his youngest son, “nobody dared speak of this matter to Fëanor again” (might have slightly butchered that quotation bc I’m not looking it up). This is in a version of the story where Curufin was the only son involved in the ship-burning, so Maedhros doesn’t even have any particular culpability or guilt complex around Amrod’s death, but still – no significant reaction.

Fëanor. One of the obvious examples! Immediately after his father’s death, Maedhros makes the stupidest decision of his life and agrees to parley with Morgoth – despite having just sworn to avenge Fëanor! My own reading of this situation is that Maedhros simply wasn’t thinking clearly; stunned and grieving, he went along with what felt like the easiest course of action, and paid a terrible price for it.

Fingon. Another classic example. Maedhros after Fingon’s death is absolutely defined by his inaction – he spends some thirty years post-Nirnaeth simply wandering in the wilds, and, when time comes for the Second Kinslaying, it’s Celegorm who spearheads that. We aren’t told anything about Maedhros’ reaction to Fingon’s death (because ouch), but it doesn’t feel like a huge leap to say that it devastated Maedhros, so much so that he just. shut down.

Post-Second Kinslaying things get murkier because Maedhros has imo more upsetting things to deal with than his brothers’ deaths, namely his own terrible fall from grace. But I would like to point out that after the Third Kinslaying and one or both twins’ deaths (depending on your preferred Amrod crispiness), it’s Maglor who cares for Elrond and Elros; Maedhros, you could argue, is not in the mental state necessary to do so.

God this got long. Anyway, with regards to tfs specifically, Maedhros is dealing with a loss that’s actually worse than anything he experiences in canon – he thinks BOTH Fingon and Maglor are dead, at the same time! So I hope his reaction doesn’t feel too out-of-character; I was worried, in writing it, that I was woobifying him too much, but I do think there’s some canonical justification for this interpretation of him. Hopefully. And thank you to everyone who’s indulging this silly little story and all my unasked-for babbling about it ❤️❤️

[paradoxcase]

Here's a nice visual depiction of the downfall of the Sims series that someone posted on reddit. (Source) The games along the top row of the image are the Sims 2 and the expansions and stuff packs for the Sims 2. Starting from the left, there is the base Sims 2 game, followed by all the expansions in order of release date, followed by all of the stuff packs in order of release date. My memory of how these were priced was that the base game was $20, the expansions were $10, and the stuff packs were $5. Which is expensive ($145 in total), but IMO it was worth it for the literal decade+ of playtime I got out of it.

Underneath the Sims 2 row are DLCs from the Sims 4, sorted into columns based on what Sims 2 expansion their content corresponds to. So, if you look at the second Sims 2 expansion with the dark purple background, Nightlife, in order to get that same content for the Sims 4, you would have to buy seven different Sims 4 DLCs. And the Sims 4 base game didn't even ship with all the same content that the Sims 2 base game shipped with, in order to get the same content from just the Sims 2 base game, you would have to buy three Sims 4 DLCs in addition to the Sims 4 base game. Also, apparently none of the huge number of Sims 4 DLCs actually has cars in it, which was actually one of the core features of Nightlife... so even those seven DLCs that probably cost over $100 don't contain the full functionality of a $10 Sims 2 expansion. (I don't know the pricing on the Sims 4 DLCs, but from what I've heard they are usually $15 a pop.) This also doesn't include any Sims 4 DLCs that have content not included in the Sims 2, but I've heard that a lot of those were generally not popular and not considered useful interesting by most people.

[curejiraiya]

Thinking about it, fashion dreamer would have been a FANTASTIC $10 game. We're in the time of crazy inflation so really $25. I could see a greedy company pricing it at $35. Any more thought and it's just not worth it.

I love fashion dreamer, but there's not a lot of content. What is there is fun, but in like Style Savvy even without the story you'd still get to do characters hair and makeup and nails and pick out bags for them and scarves and bracelets and give them a WHOLE look. In fashion dreamer you JUST give them outfits.

The scoring system in fashion dreamer IS REALLY bad like it's not at all clear what counts for what category. Which is frustrating when it was crystal clear in style savvy.

The UI is clunky.

WTF were they thinking with "Type A" and "Type B"???? I'm not the only one to complain about this. But seriously it was done so poorly. It's clearly just men and women but late in development someone said "fuck make it gender inclusive". but they didn't change anything but the wording used. Ideally they would have not had types at all. But if they wanted to keep types they needed to make two versions of every item when modeling them. Some misinformed people are saying this isn't possible or is more work. But news flash, every item in this game was made from scratch. It was THEIR CHOICE to make completely separate items during modeling. They very well could have had their employees make two versions of each piece. Someone on the directors board didn't want it that way. Yeah they can't change it NOW but it's frustrating that they're pretending to be inclusive when it's very clear that from the games launch this wasn't in its design.

The game lags when you get more items, but also encourages you to get as many items as possible, but also has a 5000 item cap because of the lag.

I hate the online component lol I wasn't expecting this to be a 100% social game where you're missing content if you're not online ig. I just do notttttt want to interact with strangers in a game like this.

At the same time customers are currently pissed because the first event broke the servers so they took it down and it's been weeks and it's not back up. IMO limited events in a full price game like this is FUCKED, but they're ALSO online mode exclusive (that's so fucked!) so I can't even access the content.

It kinda seems like the reason it's not back is because staff went on Christmas break. If so ..... ooof

ALSO items from the event are fucking SINGLE USE. ?????????? this is a paid game what the fuck. Why are their single use anything? Why are events time limited? If you buy the game late you'll never get these items despite PAYING for them.

I wasn't really expecting much from the updates but really we should treat them like they don't exist. The first one just had two QOL features that should have been at launch. And with that in mind this is not a full priced game. It's not worth more than $25. This isn't the first time we've gotten a shallow, unfinished, and presumablypresumably rushed game from marvelous. and it probably won't be the last. I officially do not trust that team whatsoever. I doubt synsophia provided anything for the game other than the fashion itself, and maybe the NPCs, because the rest of it doesn't feel like their product in the way style savvy or PriMagi arcade does. I wish they didn't partner with them.

Like obviously me and everyone else wishes this was a style savvy game instead. But even without that, I wish this game had more soul. I also wished it felt finished? The actual gameplay loop feels finished but the UI does not. Not having all of the basic sort functions from Style Savvy (color / Item type / style) makes the game feel like a beta test. I stopped playing because someone will ask for red shoes and I have to scroll for 45 seconds to find them while I watch everything slowly pop in.

The removal of money and buying items in quantities is a blow to depth too, because in Style Savvy someone would ask for a cool shirt and you have to hope you still have one in stock. Meanwhile in fashion dreamer this is only a problem for the first hour before you have enough of everything.

Like style savvy had more AND had a story. frustrating. Again I don't mind no story, I get that that's better for modern audiences. But they lost me because of lack of depth everywhere else. ugh

I don't hate this game! I think it's a cute small play once a week or once a month pickup for 2 minutes game. But that's NOT how it's priced. I also think they're REALLY REALLY REALLY fumbling how they're handling events. If they wanted to handle events the way they are right now they game needed to be free to play.

[tenrose]

I gave up, the website is too shitty, literally nothing functions. Idk if the payment really failed or if those suckers are just not able to properly write 'it's sold out'

Now that I'm slightly annoyed...

I'm gonna rant.

First of all theaters can go fuck themselves if they are not able to provide proper services. The cinema I'm talking about in particular is not indie by the way, it's one of the biggest chains here (fuck you UGC) so the bare minimum they could do is provide with actual functional website so people can actually use it and make reservations. Don't even get me started on the price. 11,60€ for me to fucking go out and see people???? And we know seats aren't as good as they used to be in the past. Don't know about the snack prices, I bet it costs two kidneys.

That being said...

FUCK STREAMING PLATFORMS TOO OR EVEN ESPECIALLY

obviously I ain't paying for any. I won't pay for 10 different platforms, and especially not Amazon they can literally rot in hell. Don't even get me started on netflix. I used to pay sometimes back then. Honestly they had something. They used to do an actual effort and trying to show different stuff. They let creative direction to their writers. We wouldn't never have sense8 with today mentality tbh. Everything is just a reboot, a book adaptation emptied from its substance, a reboot, and book adaptation a reboot, a book a- you see the thing. I mean I shouldn't be bitching as pretty much never watch anything new for years so what do I know? I mean I would like to, but every time I watch a trailer, I'm tired just by watching it. Latest exemple I'm thinking about is the three body problem... Like having read the book just watching the trailer you could see the Americanism all over it... For a chinese book. And it's the problem with everything. I mean American TV shows have always be like this, maybe being younger I wasn't aware back then idk. But it feels so empty, so soulless? They can give me all the diversity they want, that doesn't change that it's still empty. And for TV shows (actually I'm talking more specifically about TV shows cause I'm not a big cinephile so I don't have the legitimacy to criticise) I know it's because of that stupid ass 8 episodes format. I've already talked about it. But it's literally draining the whole industry imo. Also writers clearly having little creative freedom since they have to make stuff that sells. But yeah, TV shows lasted physically and in memories because we were watching them slowly instead of this boulimie stuff we have now. Everything is like consume, forget, consume forget and pay shit ton of money.

And I'm thinking I am actually not built for this shit. I felt so burn out not being able to enjoy anything. So now I don't even try. I don't try new shows cause it's not worth it even when there's an actual good one. Because it's gonna be cancelled anyway. Who wants to emotionally invest in shows that get cancelled (I did so many time).

But when I do.

Be sure I will pirate the shit out of it. None of these industries deserve our money.

To finish on a positive note, if there's one thing I'm really happy for in the end. It's books. Sure the book industry is oversaturated too and there's ton of shit to criticise too (but I won't here). But it's so vast there are books everywhere for everyone, and even if tomorrow not a single book would be published (which I don't believe in), there are enough books for my entire life anyway. But yes books, even if formatted too (looking at us french snobs with our novel format), are like the only place writers can still let go of their creativity. Plus you can have cheap books (I'm starting to get there) and obviously free books thanks to libraries, and also you can pirate books too. Yes I pirate books too but tbh it doesn't even compensate how much I spend buying books so I'm not feeling guilty and I either pirate popular books or old books (if they are really old it's free anyway). But yes if you go out unlike me go buy books if you have money, to your local bookstore, or if you can't library is your way.

Reading is my anchor ⚓

[gmaxmeltdown]

Yippee I finished the indigo disk

Indigo Disk none spoiler review and personal opinions:

Please remember these are just my personal thoughts and opinions on the game, if you disagree that’s perfectly fine and I’d love to hear your opinions in the notes, although if you’re rude or try to argue I will block you.

Final none spoiler review:

Story: 6/10, it was good I enjoyed it though it felt lacking, could’ve had more to it but overall enjoyable and fun, took itself seriously and it was pretty interesting for the most part I really do feel like there should’ve been more to it.

Region: 5/10, it was fun to explore although a bit too small in my opinion kitakami felt bigger and felt like had more diversity, it wasn’t bad though.

Characters: 8/10, I liked the characters a lot tbh I know there wasn’t exactly to much to them but I thought they actually had a lot of personality despite that, i definitely need to draw them at some point. Drayton I think was definitely a favorite although Kieran comes a close second, cringefall boy was surprisingly an enjoyable character imo.

Pokémon: 7/10, both new and returning Pokémon I felt like they were good choices and I think the old ones fit into their new models and the new ones look very nice of course some look better than others but that just goes for all of them.

Battles: 8/10, not to hard and not to easy! It really made me think especially the double battles! It was a nice change of pace from just spamming crit moves and honestly all of them were super fun, despite the fact I favor two types and usually use those exclusively (psychic and dark) I was actually able to beat the bosses pretty well with just those few and like three that weren’t either of those typings, I genuinely think these battles may have been the most fun I’ve had in any of the games.

Graphics: 6/10 basically the same graphics from the base game, could be better but I’m not exactly a graphics guy I will literally play a game with the graphics being like four pixels if the story is engaging enough.

Soundtrack: 10/10 per usual as expected from a Pokémon game, really not much more to say about that other than I will definitely have some of the songs on loop for awhile.

So do I think the DLC was worth the price after finishing both the Teal Mask and the Indigo Disk?

Yes! In my opinion it was money well spent, I enjoyed it but if you’re expecting like a 10/10 amazing story with twist and turns and super amazing writing with like the hardest competitive battles you’ve ever faced, probably not for you, if your just wanting to have fun and enjoy a nice game with a decent story and a bit of a challenge in terms of battles, you might enjoy this!

Spoiler review (also me just going on a giant rant you can get the idea from above.)

THIS RANT/REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE INDIGO DISK IF YOU ARE AVOIDING SPOILERS DO NOT READ BELOW THIS, IF YOU GET SPOILED DO NOT BLAME IT ON ME THIS IS YOUR WARNING AND CHANCE TO COME BACK LATER WHEN YOUR READY

I said this but I’m gonna go a bit deeper on it, the story was lacking. I was a little disappointed on it to be honest I really thought it was gonna lead up to one huge finale where you, Carmine, Kieran, Arven, Penny, and Nemona we’re gonna all have to team up in one final fight to save Paldea and ultimately catch the final form of Teratopagose, (excuse me if I spelled that wrong I don’t feel like googling it),

In reality it was literally just “Hey guys wanna go down DEEPER into Area Zero and catch a turtle cuz I’m hyperfixated on teralization?”

And then you go down there with Carmine and Kieran and Kieran has self esteem issues (I feel you, man) and looses his shit and then you catch a turtle. It was just such a huge build up to this all powerful thing that was sounded like it was gonna be a huge threat to just turn out like that, it was super unwhelming but o that than that it was decent and fun.

Of course there’s loads more to it than just that buuuut that more or less sums it up or at least the end part, the beginning part is just the basic “defeat the elite four and then fight the champion (except this time give him a mental breakdown:3)” which was good and fun and I have nothing more to say on it other than I enjoyed it a lot.

My major disappointment is that Penny Arven and Nemona didn’t return especially with the file leaks it really seemed like they were going to, I was really looking forward to going back to Area Zero with them to finish things only for it to just be Carmine Kieran and Briar who really needs to chill on her hyperfixation because she almost just led three children to their deaths.

Why on God’s green earth was she the only adult why did Greta and Rika decide this woman is a suitable chaperone my incineroar and honchkrow are the only reason we’re not dead.

I do think the story is a step in the right direction both for the base game and the dlc but despite my slanders I really did enjoy it and it was fun.

Anyway end of my review have this:

[randomnameless]

Based random JP Amazon reviewer:

People who have a strong attachment to the previous work will feel the pain. Especially if you like Byleth, Claude, Sothis, Cyril, and Hanneman, you will regret buying this for a long time. This work deliberately lowers the class of Claude and Golden Deer in order to raise Edelgard, and Byleth and Sothis in order to raise the level of the less attractive new protagonist, and Claude is like Edelgard in the main story. He's a tyrant, his classmates praise him for not thinking, he's an idiot, Byleth is turned into a real NPC, and they say, ``It would have been better if he hadn't become a teacher (lol).'' The encounter with the teacher must have been an inevitable encounter, right? I'm convinced that the person who wrote this scenario hasn't played Three Houses. Well, I think there are cases where someone who doesn't know the original work writes the scenario, like a certain Hollywood version of Dragon Ball, but I don't want this writer to write the scenario again.

On the other hand, I think it's a good game for people who have no attachment to the previous game, don't care about the scenario, and just like mowing grass. The price is dropping at a fast pace for a Switch game, so if you really want to play it, you might want to wait a little bit before buying.

The most diabolical parts of this critique have to be the guy pointing out how the price is dropping bizarrely fast for a new Switch release, that the game is only worth it as mindless fun for people who don't care about Three Houses, and comparing Nopes to Dragon Ball Evolution💀

LOL

But yeah, the price dropping so fast, at least in Japan? (here it's still worth more than 10 euros) is, imo, a sign that part of the fanbase really didn't like this game.

Maybe some people who preordered it on Amazon.co.jp cancelled their order when the leaks were revealed? So Amazon had to sell those things no one wants anymore?

And re-lol at the mention that the devs didn't play FE16 - one of the devs in his interview legit said he forgot parts of the FE16 plot as he played Nopes...

(I'll forever be salty that they retconned the existence of magic tomes in the Fodlan verse!).

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

Just saw a logitech g25 selling for R$1600 (~US$300) (wheel, pedals, stick shift and a DIY plywood cockpit)

How do I kill captalism???? Also is there anything cheaper than that? (That is worth buying)

That's Brazilian Reals, right? (Damn, you Brazilians keep it so gangsta even your currency is real.)

I cannot offer advice on killing capitalism but I can offer advice on regulations! And one way to regulate high prices is through supply and demand, i.e. by not paying them.

Sim racing wheels -well these Logitechs anyway given their durability and old age- are something you absolutely want to buy used, so keep your eyes peeled on Listadecraig or whatever your local classifieds are: it may take time but some will pop up either close enough to you or able to ship and if you take your time and hedge your bets you're gonna strike a deal of some sort.

I mean, even capping our budget at R$1000 (at the edge of reasonable but still within it imo) hopping on OLX I found some 20 G27s. But oddly enough, only one G25? That's weird! I mean, there's like 10 between G29 and G920 (respectively, PS and Xbox oriented version of the same PC-compatible wheel - while they're not much better than the G27 and the shifter isn't included, both are newer and have more buttons and are thus valued more). Maybe the G25 is rare in Brazil for some reason, maybe it was never sold there? Idk. Point is, you may be better off looking for a G27 - I've seen one as low as R$650. Which, you know, I paid mine the equivalent of 425, but that was a bargain I had to hunt for months, and Brazil seems to be quite a different market. I don't know what your zone is and what shipping costs are like in your country but I would personally aim at R$800 - but that's mainly because it's half the G25 you found and I am someone that spite could push through mountains. You may be able to aim for even lower: you're gonna know your used markets the best, so check them yourself and I assure you you'll find a good deal at some point.

Sincerely wish you the best of luck, happy hunting!

[macgyvertape]

Thoughts on Season of the Wish

Its funny that Mara has now been the focus of 2 extended seasons. Overall I love how this expansion year has had a lot of female antagonists, and conflicts between characters who are against the Witness but not allies like Mara vs Riven, Eris vs Savathun.

Also Bungie has really been able to iterate successfully with randomized maps and enemies in seasonal activities. Its fun to have modes where abilities or weapons are boosted like Asha’s Gifts, the Arcana Cards, and buying things from Riven it can really let niche or non meta builds shine.  Gameplay:

Is Mara’s outfit more shimmery this season or is it just my better graphics card? It really is a good design for space royalty

Understandably the devs wanted to get their full use of the Riven’s paths, but between appearing in the story missions, Riven’s Lair activities, and The Coil I was tired of running them by the season end. I’m not sure if it was a limitation of how randomized areas worked, but it was annoying to have one extra connecting hallway and portal from the start to the first combat area. 

The Coil once scoring was buffed was a very fun activity, Riven’s Lair however didn’t seem to have rewards worth it until Bungie started the daily red borders from activities. Frustrating however that the reprised Undying weapons weren’t included in the red border buff. 

The Guardian Games skimmer has been so much fun to use, especially how it can cross gaps or height differences that are meant to block sparrows, shame that getting it was obviously set as a player engagement grind; watch twitch a lot, be lucky with your personal schedule for focus activities to compensate for bugs, or compete with the streamer try hards for top 10%. 

I noted in this season the other player engagement metrics; “please login each week” with the free bright dust but the 20% silver sale popup felt much more predatory, especially how there still isn’t a silver package that directly matches the silver price of one season.

Blind Well got a buff in difficulty which is understandable since the power sandbox has changed. However I wish the Ada bounty would be reworked to compensate, since it's not worth the time spent.

Never thought I’d say it but had a great time with the Crucible seasonal challenge. I haven’t touched mayhem in a while but running arc staff hunter, Shinobu’s vow exotic, and demolitionist perk Mountaintop led to some really great combo loops. 

I enjoyed Onslaught a lot, however I wish instead of a short playlist mode that isn’t rewarding, there was a 30 minute based mode since an hour for a full run is a big time commitment. No wonder 2 rounds in Legendary then leave became so popular as being most value for time vs reward.

The Archie quest was cute and a lot of fun, nice to go back to older areas for hide and seek. 

I thought Pantheon was fun and I hope a version of it comes back since sadly I didn’t do more than week 2 due to time constrictions and trouble finding a group. I’d love to play through the 2 Rhulks especially at a less than -20 power difference. 

Plot

I love summoning Riven ended in a dramatic “I refuse”. Sloane and Ahsa's storyline was about trusting someone’s good intentions, this season was about a “bargain not based on trust” just the mutually assured consequences of breaking it

Really like the song that plays in boss fights in the Coil as a remix of Forsaken tracks. I hope it appears on the Destiny Music archive eventually since this season didn’t have a soundtrack released

I can’t believe after all that hype we don’t even get to see a Harbringer

“I yearn for you to stop talking” IMO Crow is at his most enjoyable when he has a bit of fight to his comebacks. This really is the season of re-evaluate my feelings on Crow, where I really disliked him in season of the Risen and have overall been bored by him since he got his memories back. 

Riven imitating Shaxx and then threatening to imitate Sjur was really mean, and really funny direct nod at the Shaxx/Mara fanon. I really enjoyed the mutual antagonism this season between Riven vs Mara, Crow, and Petra. Really curious how bad Riven would twist the wish of the Dreaming City safe that she dares them to make

Hearing the Oracles in the one mission was startling enough to gimme flashbacks to hours spent in VoG. It's an unsettling tone, though musically I’m not sure why, or if its just that my raid role was oracle spotter.

The “can only send 1 person reveal” sparked such a fun fight between Mara and Riven that it made it my 2nd favorite season this year. I really have missed the story element of people on the same side being antagonistic towards each other

“You and I will see where the river flows” Riven has been the most interesting character this season, and this has been my favorite Mara character writing since her brief appearance in Forsasken. It felt like a good final send off for Riven, with the slight possibility that she could come back if there was an interesting enough story reason

Lmao Crow Mara special twin bond magic, and he says it was his purpose. I dislike this being his Destiny (pun intended) or that any of the Sovs have a fated path vs making their own choices.

“I’m tired Mara I’m ready for what comes next. It's ok to admit you are too”. Osiris was a side character this season but I really like his character arc about being excited there might be a resolution, an end in sight. Hope that works out for him

Its a big contrast to Petra who starts the season worn down by the curse in the dreaming city and fighting an unwinnable war, and ends the season saying that her focus has to be on her people in the future, with the implication the attacks by the Vex will be The Final Straw (pun intended)

Awwwwwwwwww I feel so sad finishing the story and getting [defeaning silence] when doing The Coil. I then stopped doing seasonal activities in that character and didn’t finish the story in the others

Lmao Crow hammer firing Hawkmoon then using melee recharge dodge when no enemies were around. His ass is not proccing Paracausal shot (there’s a reason I deleted Hawkmoon and don’t use it)

Interesting that during the Crow vs Cayde standoff “Thin Line” which is Uldren’s leitmotif doesn’t play. It did of course play when Uldren shot Cayde but also when Zavala discovered who Crow was. I feel like Crow shooting Cayde has been covered exhaustively so I hope that isn’t a major point of The Final Shape. 

Also I’ve been saying Rheasilvia wrong. Rey-a-silvia. I’ve also been pronouncing Jolyon wrong all these years

[osrs-stonks]

OSRS Stocks Quickie: Necklace of Faith

I like enchanting jewellery. Or to be a bit more accurate, I get a lot of superfluous currency to buy bags of gems with, so I like to make time to enchant jewellery for profit. It's only been recently that I've learned the value in teleportation jewellery like the games necklace or the digsite pendant, usually I'm just trying to make a buck.

I will say though - heads up to anyone who isn't very enthused about training their Hunter skill, birdhouse traps on Fossil Island give out a lot of XP and a lot of extremely valuable bird nests. Digsite pendants are your friend if you've unlocked the Fossil Island location. Again, teleportation jewellery is a fairly recent appreciation of mine.

I don't know why I was looking up enchant spells, but I came across the wiki page for Lvl-3 Enchant and came across the Necklace of Faith. And after checking some of the other enchanted jewellery, this thing just kinda sucks.

Now, granted - I'm not familiar with the necklace of faith. I tend to make bracelets of slaughter because they're worth more on the GE. And while I could say that they're the least valuable item as far as enchanted red topaz jewellery goes, that's technically not true - Efaritay's aid has more of a value drop on the GE than the necklace of faith:

But Efaritay's aid - as limited as it is - lets you use non-silver weaponry to fight vampires. Your damage cap is stuck at 10, but I still think that's kind of a neat effect.

The effect of the necklace of faith, verbatim from the wiki, is:

"When worn, the necklace will restore the wearer's prayer points by 10% if their hitpoints drop below 20%. Once the effect takes place, the necklace will degrade to dust. However, if the player is reduced to zero hitpoints from above 20%, the necklace will have no effect and the player will die as usual."

Personally, I think that's a weak-ass effect. You might get enough oomph out of this if you're at level 70 prayer or so, where you get a measly SEVEN prayer points to work with, but at the lower levels this item is genuinely useless imo. You also have to get whittled down to 20% health before it kicks in, at which point it's entirely possible that the next hit from the opponent will kill you, rendering the effect meaningless. They even accounted for the possibility that the player would be killed with a hit that damages them for more than 20% of their HP. If you're at 20% health and you've already burned through 70+ prayer points, chances are you're hosed.

I did introduce this item by saying that it sucks, but I can see how going into combat with this could help you pull a hail mary if you're good enough at the game. But I feel like it's not particularly appreciated anyway, which is why I wanted to cover it.

Looking at the value chart, this item's value peaked at almost 2,000 gold pieces when it was introduced:

Went into freefall and bottomed out at 628 gold pieces two years later - seemingly due to high demand, which didn't even breach 500 daily trades on the Grand Exchange:

Then hit a peak in 2020:

After which it fizzled out and maintained a steady value - it ebbs and flows, but it's nothing too crazy.

What gets me is that in February 2023, the daily trading volume hit a significant peak of 399 items, but the price was barely affected. You can see how the absolute nadir of the necklace's value was when there was a huge spike in GE sales, and the little anthill where it was briefly valuable again is nestled between two little peaks of GE sales. This thing did numbers - at least compared to its entire life on the Grand Exchange - and nothing happened to the value. Ebbs and flows, but nothing significant.

I'm rather fond of the ensouled chaos druid head, which is why I wanted to talk about it and bring attention to it. The necklace of faith is just kinda silly though. Low value, sucky effect and ridiculously unpopular.

As a postscript, though, I did look into onyx jewellery - and I found an item that increases the damage of all granite weapons by 20%, but it reduces your accuracy and your defense against all styles of attack. The best part is, you can't even use it with the necklace of faith, because they're both necklaces!

I would consider making a regular post about the berserker necklace, especially since it's worth like 500,000 gold pieces less than an unenchanted onyx necklace, but that side of things is way out of my wheelhouse. But man, look at that frigging GE value chart - this thing was worth over three million gold at one point.

Moral of the story, the necklace of faith sucks. Let's point and laugh at it.