efaardvark

Rakuen Tsuihou, aka Expelled from Paradise.  Robots and space and cyber and mechas and somewhat predictable but not bad for all that.  Mostly action with a bit of introspection but not too serious about it.  Has a bit of a "The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye" feel to it.  Not a bad way to waste an evening.

10 hours ago, Ohayotaku said:

The first 2 episodes of Komi Can’t Communicate. It’s cute enough, but I’m not as hyped as a lot of people are apparently.

I put it on my list after seeing the trailer but the first episode was kind of meh.  I'll revisit it for the 3-ep test halfway thru the season & see if it gets better.

5 minutes ago, Ohayotaku said:

I vaguely remember watching  Corpse Princess & enjoying it, but not any details

Kinda like that for me too.  Decent Halloween material though.  It is a fairly original story and there's a little depth if you stick with it, though like I said it took a while for me to get into it.

On 10/10/2021 at 6:29 PM, Ohayotaku said:

I normally binge watch some older supernatural or horror series around Halloween

Speaking of... Last year - or maybe the one before - I binged Shikabane Hime, aka Corpse Princess.  This is one from back in the late "noughties".  It started just as something to watch in between doorbell rings and it took a while to get into it because at the start it is just kind of a monster-of-the-week thing but I stuck with it and by the time I turned out the porch light and started eating the candy ( ) I was enough into it that I wound up watching both "Aka" and "Kuro" into the wee hours.  Fortunately the next day was a weekend and I could sleep in.  

Just did the first 13 episodes of Shiroi Suna no Aquatope (The Aquatope On White Sand).  Cute characters, nice art, good story.  Relaxing and enjoyable.  The end of Gamagama seems like a good stopping point so I'm going to wait a bit before proceeding with the next set of episodes but I'm looking forward to resuming at the end of the season.

On 10/14/2021 at 6:40 PM, Zila said:

Mushishi

I like Mushishi too.  I've revisited it a few times.  Natsume Yuujinchou is another good one that I think has the same sort of feel.

11 hours ago, Ohayotaku said:

I haven’t done any gaming in a long time

Same here, though unfortunately not for lack of desire.    

On 10/16/2021 at 4:14 PM, Ohayotaku said:

^ I’m curious about who this character is

Pretty sure that is Qiqi from Genshin Impact.  (More info on Qiqi is here.)

Got a new “Lucy” pin this weekend, which I slotted in next to my ones for Dawn and some Mars landers/rovers in my new(ish) shadow box..

So I was just checking out the new HTC VIVE Flow.  This looks like an awesome (if unreleased) VR headset.  Specs-wise it isn't top-of-the-line, or even anything to brag about in terms of electronics, framerate, field of view.  It does have "flat" optics with per-eye diopter settings, but it doesn't have IPD adjustment.  What makes it awesome (IMHO anyway) is the 6dof inside-out tracking, 189g headset weight, and 1600 x1600 per eye resolution.  Its power source is a separate battery pack, and the headset provides 5 minutes runtime so you can hot-swap packs and essentially run indefinitely.  For better or worse.   

However, after having said this looks awesome I also have to say I'm not going to be buying one any time soon.  (And unfortunately "not soon" means essentially never in the world of VR headsets since by the time they do get it right someone else will no doubt have something even better.)  What kills it for me is essentially the price.  $500 wouldn't necessarily be a show-stopper, but that price does not include anything but the headset.  No controllers, power brick, or even a cable for the power brick.  You even have to buy a new phone to use as a controller, and the phone has to be Android.  No idea why they thought they could get away with this last restriction.

I can see (maybe) why the Flow doesn't support Oculus's Touch controllers, but the HTC VIVE's controllers should at least be an option.  Being able to possibly use your existing controller(s) would at least have made this an option for people with such.  By the time I buy a controller and a power brick + cable we're probably talking over $1k, and combined with the decent-but-unexceptional specs it just isn't compelling enough to fork out that kind of money.  A new headset that is compatible with the existing hardware ecology would be one thing.  A $500 stand-alone headset that you actually need to spend 4 figures on to get working kit is quite another.

All THAT said, I have to admit that this came very close.  The low-weight and ultra portability combined with good-enough specs -could- have easily made the Flow a Quest-killer.  The form-factor is extremely compelling.  I've seen some headsets that are bigger (& heavier) than desktop computers I've built!  The Flow correctly chooses to head in the opposite direction.  I could see myself wearing something like this comfortably for several hours a day.  (Er, is that a good thing?  )

But unfortunately this just makes be really, really interested in seeing what the near future of VR has in store.  I can hardly wait until someone comes out with something exactly like this but with OLED displays and including either its own phone/controller or supporting existing controllers.  And a power brick.  Hopefully the specs and price on the web page are just a test of interest and HTC will have a more compelling product when actually released.

1 hour ago, Zila said:

I'm definitely playing this for Halloween

As the good doctor used to say, "Stay Demented!"   

I remember that from Dr. Demento's yearly Halloween special! 

3 hours ago, Zila said:

I don't really have Halloween favorites and horror definitely isn't my genre in the first place but if we're talking spooky stuff then how about adding:

Another

Karadasagashi

Jigoku Shoujo (aka Hell Girl)

and of course a little zombie now and then is relished by the wisest men* so maybe

Highschool of the Dead

Gakkougurashi (School Live)

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress)

Other anime that come to mind would be Sankarea, Corpse Party, Shikabane Hime, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo, and a lot of the Yamishibai stories.

(*apologies to Dahl)

Welcome back.  

That reminds me, I found this one a while back.  Normally things are .. brighter around Megumin but she can do a a decent "spooky" look as well.  (Though I'm sure that background is a dark cloud made of sparks and ash rather than a starry Halloween night.    )

On 10/6/2021 at 8:40 PM, Zyte said:

Damn its october? Im still thinking how fast this year is been going! Isnt halloween in november?

Judging by the store shelves Halloween season started around the end of July around here. 

Twitch has been leaked.  All of it.  Sounds like Amazon was totally owned on this one…

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/the-entirety-of-twitch-has-reportedly-been-leaked/

Finally got a bigger shadowbox for my pins.    Things were getting quite a bit crowded in the old one.  (That would be the little one above the big one in the pic.)

Now I just need to find space for the new one.  The old one fit on my bookshelf like a large picture frame.  The new one is going to need a few sq ft of wall somewhere.  On the plus side I now have a tiny bit more room for actual books.    

Forgot to post this the other day too.  Not exactly a new acquisition though.  More a rediscovered item.. an old navy jacket from my grandfather’s CB days.

Bingeing 翠星のガルガンティア (Suisei no Gargantia) today as I pay bills and do laundry.  Exciting life, ne?    Watched it before but I still love that end theme, 空と君メッセージ.

If it is sci-fi then I’d recommend things like Ghost in the Shell or Planetes.  If you don’t mind older stuff then you might want to go digging for things like Wings of Honnêamise or Patlabor or Moonlight Mile.  I’d also consider stuff like Knights of Sidonia to be decent SF.  (Don’t go for the dub on that last however.  The original intro alone is worth it.)

I’m more into the “hard” end of the spectrum when it comes to my science fiction however.  YMMV…

18 hours ago, EnviousEnvy said:

Conan Exiles (PS5)

Expanded the house and added more work stations (carpenter's bench, Forge, etc). Also recently added an animal training pen but unsure on how long it takes to "train" said animal. Otherwise I'm somehow messing up.

I don't have the game but from what I gather you need the pen but also the favorite food for the animal.  I seem to recall a lets-play where the player was feeding boars with some type of berries, but I'm pretty sure it is different for every animal.  Once they're grown into adults there was a kind of weird (to me) trick to get the animals out of the pen by putting them in the player inventory, then from there placing them into the world. 

There was also a mention of using shadespiced food to enhance the animals' abilities but apparently that's hard to get so the guy wasn't doing that and I don't really know how that works.

Sorry, there's probably a wiki or something on it somewhere that explains it all better but I'm too lazy to go look it up.    hth..

Got hooked on this by the youtube algorithm.  It's an SF short named "ATROPA".  Pretty good, and I'm picky about my SF.

On 9/10/2021 at 6:07 PM, EnviousEnvy said:

Damn. I got it all on sale for $85USD on the Playstation Store. 

$141 looks to be the current MSRP for the bundle deal of the game + all DLC but I keep an eye out for the occasional Steam sales.  Patient gamers can sometimes get 50% or more off.

Is there such a thing as a patient gamer?  

Two things.. first is an item I found at the company store.  They haven't had much stock and have been keeping reduced hours since the covid thing started but I managed to find them open and this t-shirt on the rack Thursday..

The other item is a new "Pangolin" from System76.  I've been needing a new laptop to replace my 2013-vintage MB Air and they just recently got some more stock in so I bought myself a birthday present.    Yes, I'm going to do something about that desktop wallpaper.    It just came Thursday & I haven't yet got a round tuit.  (Not that I dislike Pop!_OS so far but we can do better.)

11 hours ago, EnviousEnvy said:

Conan Exiles

That's one I've had my eye on for a while.  It is nominally Windows-only but the protondb says it is "gold" so it should be playable just fine on my linux system(s).  Except that the anti-cheat borks multiplayer on public servers that have it enabled which for me removes a lot of the attraction.    Probably for the best as I wouldn't have much time for it anyway.   It is kind of expensive too .. well over $100US if you go for all the DLC.  ($150 for the "complete" edition from the Steam store!  )

UPS delivered my pangolin today!!  So of course the first thing I had to test on it was Kerbal Space Program.    Unfortunately I didn't have much time to play but this laptop is definitely a keeper.  My old MacBook Air struggled even in the VAB and actual game play was more like a slideshow.  Even to get that much the fans came on full-speed and the machine got so hot I was honestly afraid to run it that way for more than a few minutes.  This new one stays (almost) silent, gave me frame rates mostly in the 30s and 40s, often higher, and doesn't get nearly so warm.

The one problem is the speakers.  They're on the bottom so they sound like .  Speaker placement and acoustics on laptops (even my old MBA) is always problematic so this was not unexpected and definitely not a show-stopper, but I can already tell that I'll be using a headset or earbuds a lot with this one for sure.

No problems so far getting everything downloaded and configured.  The linux distro is of course System76's Ubuntu-derived Pop!_OS, which was pre-installed and so recent as to not even need any updating or patches.  Even the gfx driver was already installed.  (Ryzen 5700U APU using the open-source AMDGPU driver so really no surprise there.)  Setting up the basics like email took about 5 minutes.  Steam was another 90 seconds from the "Pop Shop" software installer.  Ditto for discord and a couple other must-haves.  Downloading KSP via Steam took a few minutes just due to the size of the DL but everything installed smoothly and quickly and I was gaming within 10 minutes of opening the box.  So nice when things work as expected.

This weekend I hope to have enough time to try a few more games.  If so then Minecraft and Valheim are next for sure.  Maybe I'll even finally fire up the Subnautica that's been sitting untouched in my Steam library since I bought it months ago.

Usagi Drow - About a sub-sect of Spider Queen worshipers with a Furry bent.