yawngoddessofdreams

[yawngoddessofdreams]

I think it's important to mention that many mainstream art and video editing programs are not able to run on Linux and while there are alternatives, you may have to compromise some things on them.

If those programs are important to you then you may be shackled with windows but if you have a spare old laptop that is just miserably slow with windows and want to give it a shot in the arm to do writing, web surfing, and other computery things that you swear was more viable on it a few years ago, then Linux is perfect for that and the rabbit hole will just help you understand computers and networking a lot more intimately.

You pay time on learning stuff up front, but learn enough and you'll be way more self-sufficient and can start tailoring your computer experience to yourself in a way that Windows will straight up bar you from doing. Want a whole other desktop interface? Sure. Want to adjust the placement, behavior, and look of your bottom bar? Knock yourself out. Want to make your desktop look and feel like windows XP? Some weirdo has a distribution for that.

Have a dusty old desktop? Turn it into a home server with Linux. I run plex and sonarr on it to automatically download seasonal anime as it releases and gets translated. I also use it as a local backup of files. The cloud is just uploading files to someone else's computer so why not have it be your computer? Mine doubles up the backups first to the server then from the server up to a cloud service for off-site assurance in case the house burns down.

Become the freak who knows Linux if given the opportunity

hey I've been considering downloading Linux for a while now could you tell me what about it is different from Windows?

alot of what I've been looking at has really just said that it's better without really saying why

1. there's a package manager:

you usually don't download software by going to a website, downloading a file and double-clicking it, you use something like an appstore (much much better than the microsoft app store). you can also just use the package manager (the software that installs and uninstalls software from the appstore) from the terminal. there you would run a command like "sudo apt install steam" to install steam. you can download almost everything you need using this.

2. it's free (also like in freedom)

linux is free and not in an ad-filled and selling your user data way. your operating system isn't telling you to buy it. all software in the appstore is also free.

3. it's (usually) more reliable

at least in my experience, windows is much more unstable than linux. the slowdown of your system after a couple months of usage doesn't exist. linux breaks less often, however when it does break and you are new to linux it can be more difficult to fix than windows (this changes over time in my experience). linux doesn't force updates on you, if you want you can just not update your system for years (not a good idea though). and updates are much less intrusive, you can run an upgrade in the background while not noticing everything, and reboots after upgrades don't take any longer than a normal reboot

4. performance

the system uses less resources. windows uses like 2-5 gigs of ram depending on the install just on the desktop, all of my linux installs use less than a gigabyte on the desktop. my linux laptop from 2018 is much more responsive in day to day use than my new windows laptop.

5. software compatibility

you can't run most windows software on linux

photoshop, microsoft office and stuff like that doesn't work

however, gaming usually isn't much of a problem (if you have your games on steam). steam has a linux compatibility layer for linux called proton, which allows you to run most games on linux. and that's the software shipped with the steam deck. in doubt, check https://protondb.com if your games are supported

please add anything else you might see fit, this is a quick list i made after waking up lol

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Shadow Tower Abyss (2003)

While King's Field 4 is the end of its lineage as the series which really guided early Fromsoft's hand into dark fantasy, Shadow Tower Abyss is perhaps the true end of that particular blood ancestry. A lot of folks have looked back at King's Field and Shadow Tower to better understand the DNA that created the Souls series. For some it was out of a desire to create a more holistic view of how this series was formed. For others it was merely out of curiosity. For me I was of the former camp. Video essays say a lot, but perhaps this was something I should experience with my own hands. Why Shadow Tower Abyss? Its setting and gameplay seemed just intriguing and playable enough to hold my attention. I thought surely I'd get frustrated by the labyrinth and my weak ability to mentally map such spaces so I expected to get my impressions of the first hour or two then hop off it. 8 hours later I beat it.

I loved this game. Its the sort of game that makes me reconsider what a "good game" is. When you turn it around in the sunlight it has the feeling of a game that was meant to be far more ambitious yet had to be chopped up and slapped together as a minimum viable product. There's a certain point where glowing armor of archangels and weapons crackling with power are being dumped on you by the truckload, which has the hilarious side effect of possibly crushing you to death under their encumbrance due to the strange decision to not allow you to drop or destroy items from your inventory without a shop. Your power scaling reaches a zenith of comical supremacy where you are blasting endgame bosses away with a few shots of a shotgun before they opine about the meaning of their lives with their last breaths.

Whether it's the case that this game was always meant to be this way or not, it ends up telling a compelling tale with its ludo-narrative.

(Story spoilers beyond)

You start at the base of the tower fighting tribal creatures (who I admit are pretty racist) who use the bodies of a captured modern special forces unit as incubators for their young. You're presumably a soldier who was a part of them or is maybe unrelated to their mission. The only dying soldier you get to talk to asks you to "kill them all" before handing you a knife.

You delve further until you find the true base of the tower: An alien structure rising from the titular abyss. There are creatures who tend this area who talk about being "Trapped here as you are" yet also say "It is enough to exist. You may not understand since we are so different."

I think this creates an interesting contrast against you who is ascending the tower rolling up power like a katamari till you find the heart of the tower who regrets the fact that you two must be at odds in such a way. It says you and it both just want to live, and looking back you realize the creatures by large only really feed on humans and create problems for you because that is simply what they must do to live and thrive.

Your quest originally seemed to be finding a spear who's power was so great that it cowed neighboring nations to submit to it. The true nature of the spear is apparent though as you find its resting place: A desert of red rusted sand full of disfigured heroes from long ago. They warn you to not suffer like they had. They try to stop you for your own good. You find the spear though and it crumbles in your hands. The spear does not exist anymore, and maybe that is because it has played out its role. Many come to the tower because the tower knows what they want: Power. The spear is the sickly sweet smell of nutrients at the bottom of a pitcher plant.

Perhaps though, the tower swallowed up something it shouldn't have. It swallowed the frightening power of the modern world. While you can use legendary swords left by their owners who died in the tower, you also can use the frightening modern power of guns that have been freshly brought into the tower. They truly tip the balance of power in your favor and it's a scary notion that against the eldritch, perhaps extraterrestrial power of the tower, we have formed weapons that can challenge it at last and slay it like yet another beast.

Perhaps the power of the spear is an analogue for weapons of mass destruction. They cow fellow nations into submission yet put the world on a knife's edge, capable of plunging it back into darkness with smug carelessness. Those who have suffered by its hands plead with the future generations to leave these tools yet we are quick to see this form of power as necessary to achieve life and peace.

Anyways, that's my reading of it!

I would definitely recommend this game to at least try. It's strange in a way that bewitches you and feels very before its time in some regards such as location-based damage and dismemberment on enemies as well as directional swings that really utilize this mechanic. Truly it was dead space before dead space. In fact I would say this game's balance and gameplay put it closer to a survival horror than a true souls game.

Another comparison I'd make is it's a better Scorn since it also has an HR Giger-esque aesthetic yet includes far more gameplay. I'd describe Scorn as a walkable artpiece that is interspersed with survival horror segments where health and ammo is limited. Shadow Tower Abyss is far more consistent at being an actual game and while I admire the walkable gallery sense to scorn, I did not admire the threat of being sent back to uncertain checkpoints by failing the survival horror segments that ultimately had worse combat than Shadow Tower Abyss due to wonky hitboxes.

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Reblog for bigger sample size!

[yawngoddessofdreams]

1 day remains for the launch of AEGIS2’s Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zephyrwx/aegis2

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

Of the Ace Combat PS2 games I've played 4 and Zero as well so far MEANING! This rounds out my experience playing all the Ace Combat PS2 games! I've also played 6 and 7 so I've played almost all the Ace Combat games that I want to play! (The only one left is electrosphere, which emulates on my steamdeck very well so that'll eventually happen).

Anyways! I loved it. I think the play order I did of playing zero before this helped the story have more impact since it ends up referencing and involving the country of Belka, which had its tragic story play out during Ace Combat Zero. I think the dialogue in 5 is way more cheesy BUT does involve a pleasant surprise of having Steve Blum voice a character (and Matt Mercer). But I think you just sort of accept the melodrama and cheese in Ace Combat to have a good time.

Gameplay-wise it's on-par with the other two games, which is good cause I loved them! The emphasis on squad control was nice and actually felt significant in some places, and I enjoyed being able to choose what the rest of my squadron flew.

The story had some fun twists and turns and I enjoy a good independence day style ending of everyone coming together for the sake of peace.

I love this series and its giant superweapons and references to demons in a metaphorical sense. If you love combat flight sims, and enjoy melodramatic mecha anime then you cannot go wrong with Ace Combat (Unless you play assault horizon)

10/10, Now to never play Assault Horizon

[yawngoddessofdreams]

I want to clear out a lot of my classic games backlog this year in general. I've been sitting on a pile of great games particularly in my PS2 library and I need to stop being a fake gamer and beat them.

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Devil May Cry (2001)

I want to start collecting my thoughts about media that I've watched/played for the year just to sort of process my feelings on them. I finally played through the father of character action games Devil May Cry and in short it was an enriching experience!

There's something interesting about half-step games, though Devil May Cry already has so much of its DNA that would lead into its sequels and the genre in general but still has the lingering scent of its origins as a retooled resident evil 4. The camera angles and setting really hammer that history in and cause a lot of trouble, but the camera does show off the location so beautifully that the iconic castle stays burnt into your mind.

I think its a game that stays its welcome exactly as long as it needs to. The enemy encounters hardly feel repetitive, and some of the more iconic enemy types show up precisely as often as they need to to feel memorable and interesting each time you run into them. It's a balanced and well-oiled machine and offers the ability to grind it into the ground with harder modes that do well with challenging your knowledge of its deep systems.

Its a masterpiece of a game. It was visionary, executes its ideas well, and has such a flare and joy to everything it does (What comes to mind is how selecting a gun has it do an exciting animation of it shooting, or how the melee weapons have their elemental energy spark off it in such an over-the-top way in the menu).

There's a lot of annoying quirks like the lives system, or how you can't just revisit old missions, the sudden space harrier section at the end, or the infamous underwater sections, but these problems never really dull the entire experience and only give it some extra character imho. Like that friction somehow highlights how great the rest of the game is.

10/10, glad I finally took time to enjoy it.

[yawngoddessofdreams]

When ICON adopted Kin just like how I started using it in songs we sing I felt validated in that choice. It rocks

[yawngoddessofdreams]

I think this really hits the heart of it that "species" has a very specific connotation that doesn't really apply to all the examples of playable characters that exist within the text.

A larger umbrella term is deffo needed and this is a sloppy solution that doesn't truly give enough thought into how the people in the worlds of D&D see their fellow sentient beings. It also feels uncomfortable considering Gary Gygax was definitely someone who would nod along with dangerous "sciences" like skull measurement of humans which sought to essentially say that some races are just biologically different species to add fuel to racism. While you run into the minutia of who can have kids with who, I honestly don't believe it's fitting to bring such wonky sciences into a world of dragons, wizards, and demons running about. It's a world with its own unique social dynamics in that way and "species" is fitting a round peg into a square hole at the end of the day.

The d&d species thing has been at the back of my mind all day. I can see the root of their reasoning but if you step back it's deffo worse right? I'm not crazy for feeling funky about characters being divided by their racial modifier scores being instead defined as whole other species right?

[yawngoddessofdreams]

The d&d species thing has been at the back of my mind all day. I can see the root of their reasoning but if you step back it's deffo worse right? I'm not crazy for feeling funky about characters being divided by their racial modifier scores being instead defined as whole other species right?

[yawngoddessofdreams]

The neurodivergent urge to play songs on repeat till you're sick of them

[yawngoddessofdreams]

I think Twitter's mortal blow has taught me to be less shy about the social media space I cultivate.

Kind words and generous sharing gives so much

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Hustling incredibly hard on tumblr and it's paying off.

Gotta work on my projects more now however eurgh

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Or someone pulls an "all or nothing" or "ms officer and Mr truffles" situation with it. We've been down this track before with non-existent media and by God we can make the same mistakes again

Very interested to see how tumblr’s usual introduction-adulation-cancellation cycle plays out vis-a-vis Goncharov.

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Reminder that if you follow me here and not my main @gentrigger then you're missing out on my lovely art and main content. This is mainly an account to reblog stuff and yell about gay stuff but you're free to join me in my yelling~

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Person who's only read one book: "I will try to become a writer now"

Okay I know I said I was on a break from “D&D culture bad” posting but someone in a TTRPG facebook group I’m in got called a snob for merely suggesting to a “fellow” aspiring TTRPG *DESIGNER* to check out games other than Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition lmaoooooooooooooooooooooo literally Marvel fans but 10x worse