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91

Off-Topic News Discussion / Re: When the heck will we get ...

Last post by Legend - Apr 05, 2024, 12:14 AM

A Tantalizing 'Hint' That Astronomers Got Dark Energy All Wrong - The New York Times

Awesome! This is independent of the crisis in cosmology mentioned above.

Would love to see how well alternative theories to dark energy can match this data. I'm not a dark energy hater, but man is it an unsatisfying explanation.

Our BAO measurements agree with Planck ?CDM (solid line), but indicate a slight preference for evolving dark energy (dashed line) instead of the standard cosmological constant ?. 5/10

???? Credit: Arnaud de Mattia, CEA Saclay pic.twitter.com/OTv8aUaUuF

— DESI Survey (@desisurvey) April 4, 2024

92

Off-Topic Community / Re: TV Show Thread

Last post by Legend - Apr 04, 2024, 11:10 PM

Yeah at this point I think she's more popular than the joker.

93

Gaming Community / Re: Do games need to be "AAA"?

Last post by Legend - Apr 04, 2024, 09:14 PM

i will go on record with this:

digital foundry has made the video game industry worse.  

yes, games shouldn't have flagrant performance issues but DF goes into ridiculous levels of scrutiny.   the criticisms are too often not at all important but then create huge amounts of blow-back on developers.   "oh noes, this game drops to 59 fps once in a while.   developers need to stop releasing broken games..."   "oh noes,.. hi-fi rush has ever so slightly better shadows on ps5 than on PC/Series X?!?  MS has a huuuge QA problem and should have caught this".  

Yeah they're a great resource but they should have remained niche. The average gamer shouldn't care about these things.

I think esports is also part of the problem with people blaming their poor skills on game performance.

94

Gaming Community / Re: Say Anything About The Gam...

Last post by Legend - Apr 04, 2024, 09:05 PM

Here are my thoughts from when I played The Room games.

I finished The Room Three. I liked the second game better since it had better puzzles, but the third game was great at being more like a myst game. Pretty crazy how much the production value increases with each one.

The multiple endings were nice but most of the difficulty in the game was just from not seeing things. I got the third ending, then the first, and then spent ages until I noticed a tiny secret behind something that was already solved.

i'm soo obsessed with this game right now.   it's been a long time since a game had me this engaged with it.  

11/10

I don't think of myself as a fan of sokoban games but Monster's Expedition was great.

My only annoyances came from after I finished it and was going for 100% completion. I started to really hate the fog.

95

Gaming Community / Re: Say Anything About The Gam...

Last post by kitler53 - Apr 04, 2024, 08:35 PM

i've only play the room 1 but after playing it i bought the 2-4.   


i'm currently playing a monster's expedition.

i'm probably about half way though but this might be my favorite puzzle game since fez.  certainly a top 5 overall.   game seems soo simple at the surfce:
- push logs around
- cross to the next island

...but it's got a ton of depth.   
1. it's not linear.   i've definitely gotten blocked by an island i can't figure out but there is always an alternative path to follow
2. it's got a great balance of difficulties.   it's not just getting harder as you go.   some islands are really easy and others not so much.   this back-and-forth keeps the game refreshing.
3. unlike most puzzle games these days it doesn't just introduce a mechanic and play with it for 10 levels then abandon it.  things are introduced and explorered and then remixed with prior ideas.
4. there is a surprising amount of depth and nuance around pushing a lot.   the size, orientation, and interaction with other elements has a surprisingly large number of interactions and outcomes to consider

BUT,.. and this is the most important part for me:

5. it can be quite difficult to even know what puzzle you are even trying to solve.

this is soo critical to my enjoyment.   puzzle games really always loudly broadcast the goal and leave it to you to figure out how to do it.   that's not so true here.   yes the overall goal is obvious,.. get to the next island.   but most islands i look at i can devise at least 2-3 possible final outcomes that will get me there.   so then i find myself trying to solve for a solution they simply may not be possible.   some of the most joyful wins is when i though i had 2 possible outcomes to solve an island only to find there was a totally bonkers 3rd way i had no idea was even possible but became so obvious once i found it.


i'm soo obsessed with this game right now.   it's been a long time since a game had me this engaged with it.  

11/10

96

Gaming Community / Re: Say Anything About The Gam...

Last post by SWORDF1SH - Apr 04, 2024, 08:21 PM

Finished The Room Two. Big improvement over the first, I liked it a lot.

Here are my thoughts from when I played The Room games.

Played all 4 on The Room games and each felt unique. The first 2 were more about finding hidden switches and latches on containers (puzzle boxes) while the last 2 evolved into solving whole rooms rather than just boxes. It felt like each game improved with the series although you might be disappointed if you prefer the puzzle boxes but the dollhouse of the final game was the most rounded and most fun imo.

Also playing Gedonia because I felt like playing a simple old school RPG. Played a few hours and it's seems OK. Not played many RPGs so don't know how it compares but it's fun while also buggy.

I would say the first one is more "eye spy" while the following 3 are a mixture of both "eye spy" and logic.

97

Gaming Community / Re: PC Community Thread

Last post by the-pi-guy - Apr 04, 2024, 04:28 PM

I'm still waiting on another HDD anyways, so I'm not in a rush.

Going to try putting together a RAID6 with 4 18TB drives. So 36 TB of usable space. Currently using 30TB on my current PC.

I'd probably be totally fine with like 6 drives for a very long time.

But I feel like it would be nice to set up those 1TB drives, and have them in their own RAID configuration.

98

Off-Topic Community / Re: General Politics Thread

Last post by kitler53 - Apr 04, 2024, 04:12 PM

not even trying to hide it.  just overt racism.  

99

Gaming Community / Re: Do games need to be "AAA"?

Last post by kitler53 - Apr 04, 2024, 04:11 PM

Good points Pi and kit.

I wonder how much game journalists tip the scale. Lost Legacy and Miles Morales got slightly worse reviews than the main games and how much of that was from reviewers simply docking them for having less content?

i will go on record with this:

digital foundry has made the video game industry worse. 


yes, games shouldn't have flagrant performance issues but DF goes into ridiculous levels of scrutiny.   the criticisms are too often not at all important but then create huge amounts of blow-back on developers.   "oh noes, this game drops to 59 fps once in a while.   developers need to stop releasing broken games..."   "oh noes,.. hi-fi rush has ever so slightly better shadows on ps5 than on PC/Series X?!?  MS has a huuuge QA problem and should have caught this".   

100

Off-Topic Community / Re: General Politics Thread

Last post by the-pi-guy - Apr 04, 2024, 04:07 PM

Trump: Would you rather have the Black president or the white president? I think they want the white guy.
 pic.twitter.com/yYxLVJfOYU

— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) April 3, 2024