Hiker, software engineer (primarily C++, Java, and Python), Minecraft modder, hunter (of the Hunt Showdown variety), biker, adoptive Akronite, and general doer of assorted things.

  • 8 Posts
  • 1.58K Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: August 10th, 2023

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  • I really think we just need to move on from this AI craze.

    We don’t have a general intelligence. We may never have a general intelligence.

    Keep using AI for what it’s good for: statistics based decision making. Stop trying to use AI for designing solutions; it’s not built for that because that requires reasoning which is something AI cannot do no matter how much snake oil society has been sold.

    You want to use it for generating a picture, a poem, or a song … fine, it’s at least good at that because it doesn’t have to solve anything using facts, making stuff up IS the goal.


  • Honestly my biggest problem is:

    • I don’t drink
    • I don’t go to church / I’m not religious
    • I work from home
    • Video games and hiking are my two major “for fun” time expenditures
    • I’ve seen too many women complain about dudes approaching them
    • I hung out in a local coffee shop and met a couple of people, but no women (half the time if there were any there they seemed either much younger or much older … the other half of the time they’d show up and never come back so a cold approach was the only option)

    … what the hell am I supposed to do other than use these apps society?





  • Yeah, I got it like its first day of early access, super excited by the art style and then got immediately turned off by the stamina system.

    I don’t think I’m a big souls-like fan, but I can at least tolerate Elden Ring, Lords of The Fallen, and really enjoyed Remnant II.

    I also don’t know if they’ve changed this, but I found their exit game button being hidden behind tab and then a submenu within that overlay to be just incredibly dumb.

    I ended up refunding it for the above.

    It looks like they still haven’t implemented co-op which is also a huge shame. That might have at least made it somewhat more worthwhile (for me anyways).

    It’s really just a shame as I love the art style and the world seems really cool … but I really don’t want to deal with the stamina system.


  • I’d argue you’re the one that’s committed the nirvana fallacy if anyone.

    You want them to take a useful stance but you quit supporting them because it wasn’t enough of a useful stance.

    I’m just saying, don’t moralize companies … they’ll let you down every time. It’s not about doing what’s right, it’s about fitting in. Companies are like the virtue signalers in high school, they’ll only do it if it’s cool.

    Maybe that’s useful to your cause, maybe it isn’t, maybe you support them maybe you don’t, but I wouldn’t expect a company to do things from a place of morals.












  • Yeah for me, it’s the variety of tales that you author. Every game feels a bit like a new adventure, after a while similar to ones you’ve been on before, but still new.

    ARC has those elements, but something feels off so far for me…

    Also typically the progression is in terms of variety (Roguelike) instead of straight power (Roguelite). That keeps things fair because even a new player, if they trade the aim, can pose a real threat to a seasoned player of similar FPS skill. ARC seems like it’s decided to go for a sort of Roguelite experience and that seems risky.


  • I haven’t played Marathon, but I did get into the ARC test. This will mostly be some ramblings…

    I’m still waiting to play ARC with some friends. I only did some solo stuff.

    I’m coming from this as a big Hunt Showdown player (1,200+ hours) and someone that’s played a bit of Forever Winter (~20). I still like Hunt better; I think it’s the only extraction shooter that didn’t take a ton of influence from Tarkov.

    I wasn’t crazy about the marathon art style, but I’m not ready to pass judgement on it until I’ve been in the world.

    ARC’s art style I found beautiful but also perhaps too sparse. There were so many wide open spaces … I just don’t see that being a good thing for an extraction shooter. The world felt vast and empty … I prefer Hunt’s more cluttered and dense design.

    ARC does seem to have a lot of potential in like how it’s designed its AI, Hunt’s is very primitive in a lot of ways and kind of secondary. I think the AI is going to be a bigger deal in ARC.

    Third person also feels worse to me than first person. I hope they add a first person mode to ARC, but I kind of doubt they will.

    I definitely agree that ARC felt like it was being set up to tell a story and felt very cinematic at times.

    The UI also felt like the best extraction shooter UI I’ve ever encountered.

    I’m concerned about the long term health of ARC. The progression system seems like it will certainly lead to established players dominating newer players. The lack of a primary objective that’s shared by all the teams on the map … I’m not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it may lead to a more relaxed experience, on the other hand, it doesn’t curate players towards each other like Hunt does; it seems looting and crafting are the primary motivators instead.

    The fights that I did get into, they lacked the complex environment and buildings in Hunt so I didn’t find them nearly as engaging, they were much more straight forward gunfights than leveraging the map to use it to my advantage. I think that aspect will ultimately hurt the game as it makes it feel like a bit of a generic shooter.

    Overall ARC felt very middle of the road from what I’ve played of it so far. I had a similar feeling about The Finals. Embark seems like a talented studio and I wish them the best as they go up against Bungie and Crytek.