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Similar happened to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Most servers are nothing but bots, and only a handful have actual players. Game still chugging a long with a dedicated fanbase, (myself included). I saw similar behavior in TF2 when I wanted to replay it after years of not touching it.

Love TF2. God what an absolute gem of a FPS. I hope TF3 is in some sort of development – it's the only FPS i had hundreds of hours in. Only one I ever participated in a tournament for (back in 2008).

Just because something deals with things like death, politics or relationships doesn't mean something it's suddenly for adults or not for kids. That argument is dumb and it's always been dumb.

Much more relevant is how the topics are portrayed and handled.

I've started reading the manga and web novel, and I must admit that I'm enjoying it. It is oversimplified to describe it as "…a NEET in his 30s who was transported into another world after being killed and now lives a wonderful life." Furthermore, due to a lot of cut dialogue and content, the anime isn't the ideal version to begin with. I recommend beginning with the manga and then progressing to the web-novel if you like it. It's an amazing story about personal redemption and being able to restart one's life while using that earlier life experience to improve oneself and others, in my opinion. Plus, in comparison to other Isekai shows I've seen, I prefer that Rudi was reborn in another world and must start over (other than knowledge retainment), rather than being transported to another world and granted op supernatural abilities because… reasons.

I just want to feel loved and accepted. I know I'm not unique in the slightest for feeling that way but… I don't care…

I want to be loved, held, feel protected. Doesn't matter if it's many people or only one, I just don't want to feel like people hate me for no good reason, and I want peace and happiness. Maybe it's my own fault I feel too scared to seek affection, or whatever.

I've been dead quiet on the forums until just recently, but I've seen you around on this site for a long time. To see you being given so much shit, for you to have been impacted by such extreme toxicity, it's awful... I know it doesn't help much, but I consider you a positive presence, and many find you iconic.

You're great! <3

I cant do this shit anymore….sigh…..

Back in 2020 I initially felt Microsoft had a slight edge when it came to memory storage on their latest console, because I felt an "old fashioned, but still modernized" memory card that you just plug into the console was a little more elegant than having to basically dismantle the console to install new storage. I also initially assumed the Xbox Series consoles having the storage be proprietary meant less worry when it came to figuring out if the storage will work properly.

Now in 2023 I feel almost the opposite. The one advantage Xbox Series still has is the fact the storage cards are extremely easy to install, simply plug them into the slot visible on the console and bam you're good to go, but everything else? PS5 wins out IMO. First off the proprietary nature of the Xbox Series storage and the fact Seagate basically had a monopoly on it for the past three years means Xbox storage cards are STUPID expensive, like holy shit a 2TB card is still nearly $300?! For only slightly more you could buy an entire Series S console! Meanwhile on PS5 the fact it's "agnostic" to manufacturers and really only requires that the NVMe at least meets a minimum read/write speed means prices are far more competitive for PS5 storage, and now if I want I could buy a 2TB NVMe for less than $100. Plus Sony didn't make any deals for one provider to be the sole PS5 memory storage maker also adds to that competitive pricing nature. Also that worry I had about if some NVMe's made for PS5 had a higher likelihood of being faulty? Unfounded. So many NVMe's work perfectly fine on PS5.

I heard Western Digital is about to start releasing Xbox storage cards of their own and I really hope once they do the prices on Xbox storage cards go down thanks to Seagate no longer holding a monopoly. I need more storage for my Series X but I'm not shelling out nearly $300 for only one more terabyte of data!

I fucking hate how I cannot get into things anymore. I haven't been able to immerse myself or care about the lore of anything I didn't view before 2016 and it really just depresses me. I realized it when I was thinking about why I never bothered with lore videos on Dark Souls III.

I'm in a similar boat. I can't really appreciate stuff I used to like as much as I used to in recent times.

Sometimes I realy wish I had a crew of people to go on camping or trails with again like with boyscouts or outdoor ed. Unfortunately the older you get, the harder it is to find anyone with free time to go and do something. Most of the friends I have now don't even ever talk about wanting to go and do outdoor activities, it's mainly just all talk about games and maybe some current world events.

Really, I would love to finally have a day where I could dedicate myself towards completing some kind of project. That would mean alot to me.

One of my recent issues is I left something unfinished a year ago and for some reason that I legitimately can't explain I just can't bring myself to finish it, and it's something that I know the moment you learn what it is you'll likely go "wait, THAT'S the thing you are having trouble finishing?!"

Specifically I for some weird reason can't bring myself to finish GTA4's story to completion. I finished the main game and The Lost and Damned LAST summer, but for some reason every single time I try and start a serious playthrough of The Ballad of Gay Tony I keep stopping very early into the campaign and do something else like play TF2 or some random short game like Prodeus or Severed Steel instead. And yes it bothers me that I've left this unfinished for a literal year at this point. What the hell is it that keeps me from properly starting and completing a DLC that I remember loving back in my early college years? I legit have no fucking clue, but it feels like any time the "vibe" is off in some random fashion I suddenly no longer feel like wanting to do this task right now and instead just put it off until the "right vibes" are back.

Right now I'm trying to force myself to just do it already like telling myself "you're not allowed to even start Armored Core 6 until you finish TBOGT already!" but yet this past weekend I didn't even attempt to start it, I just played TF2 and the new Fortnite update all weekend.

Man what the hell happened to the version of me who would play games like Mario 64 and Metroid Prime even when suffering from a cold because I was just so motivated to play fun games to completion?

We'd probably make good friends. As an outdoorsy type, I find it difficult to find people who would want to accompany me. Of those I know, they have zero interest, think I'm insane, or their ideas of enjoying the great outdoors is to get drunk around a campfire and shoot at empty beer cans. Nothing wrong with that last bit, but not my idea of outdoor fun. I tried some local hiking clubs, but I found them too be slow going and the folks, while friendly, non-committal for anything more than a day trip.

I have my own little bucket list of peaks to climb (half of which I've already checked off), but outside of using expensive guides, I typically find myself alone on the trail.

I find this very relatable. Back in the day I remember I could play games for hours on end and even when I had to I found it difficult to stop. I was always eager to keep playing and see the next level or the next big plot event. Replaying games was fun. Buying a new game and playing it for the first time was a thrill and back in high school there were times when I went to sleep at 4 AM after spending a night playing with online friends because we were having so much fun.

Nowadays I find it harder and harder to find the motivation to continue playing. I'll play for a few minutes before shutting off the console and go do something else. Instead of playing the shiny new game I bought recently I'll replay something like Spyro or Mass Effect for the umpteenth time, even then I often leave those unfinished. If I do play the new game, or something I bought a long time ago but never played, I'll only play for a few minutes before saying "I''ll finish it later" and never come back to it, or come back months later before abandoning it again. I think I started Fallout 4 three or four different times and never played more than a few hours each time.

Maybe it's just one of those "you're getting older" kind of things. Maybe it's social media and the current Internet stuff like that is destroying our attention spans and making us jaded and cynical and unable to enjoy things anymore. Maybe it's something else completely different. I don't know, but I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling that way.

I hate how WoW continues to rend its worldbuilding into a fine paste.
It's not enough for the story itself to be bad. They have to go back and actively destroy or water down things that have existed for at least a decade.

I used to say I still enjoy the world even if the story sucked, but now it's like I'm not allowed to have even memories of it anymore, jfc.

I join you in solidarity. It's like since 2020 I haven't been able to finish most games I get into:

I never beat Fatalis in Monster Hunter World. I told myself I would not start Rise until I did. Fastforward to this year I have beat all of Sunbreak's title updates. While Fatalis is one of the hardest fights in modern Monster Hunter, it's not the hardest challenge I did on a videogame, yet my motivation doesn't seem to come back.

More recently I've been playing Rayman Origins and I've still to continue atfer months of not playing it. I love the game and yet it's like I end up procrastinating it for other games.

I want to finish Pizza Tower, but I also wanna get all P ranks before I get the final judgement. My save file is RIGHT at the last 3 levels. It's so painful leaving a game right before the finish line.

It may be silly procrastinating a hobby, but I feel you. Suffering from lack of motivation is not a joke.
On a bright note, I did finish the Spyro Reignited Trilogy twice and even started a third save file. I have no tip for this, It's probably as simple as, just boot the game you want to finish and that's it. Like don't even think about it and just act, otherwise you get lost on your own thoughts and end up doing nothing.

I just had two awful d&d sessions that amounted to nothing.

What's worse is that they were both PAID.

The first one didn't even start because their wasn't enough players.

the other didn't start because one player flaked at the last minute and the dm didn't want to a session without the full team, punishing another player and I for our agency.

I was so fucking mad.

Thankfully I just looked at some pictures of Fantina and Rika and I calmed down, their beauty humbles me :3

Wtf do 30-40 year olds even do to have fun? Their taxes? I am scared

33 at the time of making this comment. When I'm not at work I to tend to just be a total hermit, YouTube and vidya during my non work hours.

Drinking or gambling. Might spend time with their family and kids as well.

give me 3 more years and I'll answer you back. Actually when I think about it, I doubt their would be any difference for me then and now.

I have high blood pressure induced epilepsy and can't get a job, a car, a social life. The second half of high school was probably the happiest time in my life. I'm 27 now.

I've grown really sick and tired of seeing scythes as weapons in fiction (especially anime). And it's not because it's not a practical weapon, but because it's extremely overused. Seriously, the scythe in modern fiction is treated as "the cool weapon" that is always given to the character the author wants to portray as "the powerful one." For me, this only makes me cringe at this point, and I just can't take it seriously anymore.

I can't instantly think of any characters who use it besides Maka and Black Star from Soul Eater.

That’s kind of funny to me since I’ve always like scythe-wielders in media for the opposite reason.

When you think about it, scythes are just a basic farmer’s tool for cutting off crops and grass in the field back then. TBH, scythes are an impractical weapon that doesn’t really serve much purpose when it comes to combat. Even other agricultural tools such have better functionality for fighting. Sure, there are War scythes and have serve purpose in military combat, but they’re aren’t the same kind of scythes we talking about. And yet, scythes are commonly associated with death, darkness, and mortality. And because of that, many scythe-wielders are either intimidating villains, anti-heroes, or characters who serve the purpose of challenging the protagonist/main characters about their ideals and perception of the world more-so than fighting. Are scythes overused? Well, I think anything can be overused if the creators doesn’t implement their own flare into the mix. It’s all about execution. To me however, I think Macuahuitl would be a great replacement for scythes given the very violent history behind it and association with death.

Although, I would love to see scythe-wielders who’re weird/comedic characters that fight in the goofiest way possible.

I am serious; if I get another Honkai Star Rail YouTube ad, I will freak the fuck out!

Just stop it, dammit.

Just take the Ublock Origin pill, bro. Found it thanks to this very site exactly a year ago. ABSOLUTELY NO REGRETS (aside from no longer ocasionally stumbling upon an actually good ad every 2 million centuries). Wish I had known about it a decade ago.
Now, if your problem is Sponsorships, then…sorry ¯\(ツ)/¯

No matter how old you are, you can always find something to have fun, no matter what it is. I'm 38 and I have more fun playing with Lego bricks and video games like SimCity and Deus Ex than watching reality shows and other bullshit on TV.

"This rant post is brought to you by Skill Fresh: VPN Legends. Check the non-existing link in the description and use the code "IHateYouTubeSponsors" for a 2% discount on your annual subscription. The first two people to click the link will also obtain 9999 gold premium gems and unlock 2 exclusive champions with a store value of $52526! Big thanks to "Skill Fresh: VPN Legends for sponsoring and let's go back to the rant post!"

I have always wondered how anyone can watch YouTube without using some sort of ad blocker. I sometimes see my parents or older people using the app and having to watch all those ads that they keep cramming into them. I find them near unwatchable. At least the sponsor ads can always be skipped and some creators try to have fun with them instead of giving the whole spiel I tried parodying above verbatim.

I have no ill feelings towards Asmongold himself as I've never really heard anything bad about the guy, but if the YouTube comments on clips of him are anything to go by I definitely don't want to engage with his fanbase. On a clip where Asmon himself was discussing the dude who ranted about pronouns in Starfield's character creator, the comments section was filled with highly upvoted comments from legitimate bigots saying the usual bigoted shit about trans people. And in another clip where someone in the comments pointed out "man Asmon's chat was being super racist" a reply to that comment went "nothing wrong with that" and it was the second comment that got highly upvoted.

Again I understand YouTube comment sections are often just as toxic as average Twitter threads, but seeing legitimate bigotry being highly upvoted in the comments of a streamer who doesn't even seem to be a bigot at all just tells me "the streamer is fine, but I never want to engage with their fanbase."

I can't stand the new sponsorship-based structure on YouTube. Well, I still think of it as "new" even though I was getting assaulted by it a decade ago. There is that thumbnail overlay that recently got added that tells you if there's a paid promotion in the video, and I just kinda don't click on any that have one. I admit I uh… I stopped watching Summoning Salt and a few others over the years.

Fortunately, most of the YouTubers I watch are either fairly small or else just don't do sponsorships, but if you get inundated with them, I've tried the SponsorBlock addon and it seems to work pretty well, though I haven't tested it in-depth much. I personally don't know how anyone can watch a lot of big YouTubers and be assaulted by what are for all intents and purposes baked-in ads that use the creator themselves to try and hook your mind (I actually hate it more when the creator tries to incorporate it into the content of the video or be "silly" with it, because it's still a product and now you're getting even more effectively sold on it). Tech YouTubers and science/history channels have it especially bad, it feels like.

I don't watch big YouTubers, but I do watch some science and history channels as well as some horror and true crime or mystery channels, those also tend to do a lot of sponsored content. I can't really blame the creators for picking the offer when their content isn't algorithm-friendly and anything remotely edgy or not family-friendly enough gets instantly demonetized.

The only videos I tend to avoid completely are the ones covering new products or media, those are typically the most blatant ads trying to pass off as genuine reviews. On the rest I just easily skip the ad by finding the "most replayed" section or hitting the "skip 10 seconds" button a few times until the section ends. Same when the creators start advertising their Patreon stuff.

It's not that common, but I really hate people who use the stories of damn good games to preach about their stupid political beliefs.

Especially when those beliefs are far left ones and the games used are Fromsoft ones.

I want to piggyback off this.
I don't like it when people call a fictional person or group black, white, african, european, etc. Specifically when fiction doesn't take place on earth. Now obviously people draw inspiration from real life to make fiction and that's fine. But often times the similarity is at best superficial or highly subjective.

What really gets me about it though is
a) blatantly ignoring the lore and context so you can reduce things down to ethnicity or colour and
b) using to as a means to worm political beliefs into the conversation

It's like, why can't you just let yourself be immersed in the world instead of writing an article about how orcs are actually black people?

I just upgraded my SkyMiles American Express to Platinum a few days ago. I didn't think I'd be approved for it since I tried applying for it before I had SkyMiles and got rejected at least twice, but I'm now excited to have it. However, just yesterday Delta made major changes to their program, and now Platinum card holders will no longer be able to access the SkyClub lounge, one of the perks I was looking forward to the most. I don't have the willingness to pay the much higher annual fee for a membership or a Reserve (not to mention Reserve doesn't give bonus miles for other things like hotels and dining), so this is one of the biggest slaps in my faces I've ever gotten.

After a 4 year hiatus due to the pandemic, Miku Expo North America is finally coming back in 2024 with a big tour, Cool! Unfortunately, the venues near me sold out within minutes, this is unprecedented and unusual for a fairly niche concert. As a result any remaining ticket prices are wildly inflated into the several hundreds of dollar range. 150$ just for general admission, a price that was typically for vip tickets only in the previous expo's. I was able to snag a ground floor ticket, but I had to dig deep into my pockets.

I just gone back from 4 hours of typing about my gripes. and I wanted to say this.

Uncle Al's video about Kirby is fucking garbage and he's not equip for being a game critic. I seen SimplyDad made better takes about Persona/SMT and at least he actually play majority of the goddamn games about it!

Well, I just entered my thirties this year. Oddly enough, my work-life is what keeps me sane, and has been for the past five years.

I'm pissed off that I have to wait 24 hours until I finally have the ability to upload something

I'm having a "depression session" as i call it, right now.

Everytime i try to explain myself it always get too much overcomplicated and all i can say is i don't know with some fancy, long and complicated words to reach somewhere, yet nothing comes from it. I'm a very alone person. Not on the romantic sense, not on a friendship sense, not on a familiar way, it's somehow worse. I've always felt like i was a nuisance because everything in my life screamed at me that i was the problem. Every interaction on school to every social interaction with my family and friends. Maybe it was my fault maybe it wasn't. Maybe i'm torturing myself maybe i ain't. Is this something out of my control? What are the odds? Is someone else with the same issues? Or am i truly alone? I don't fucking know and in the end of the day i will always end with this confusion. Everyone here is complaining over dumb stuff and golly i wish i was one of you.

To this day i do not know what to do and maybe my story will not end very well. I made a prison for myself, i adaptaded myself from this whole social disconnection people gave me and the biggest bullshit is that i cannot leave from it. I'm weird. I'm nothing. I'm ugly. I'm a freak. That's what they always say and will always use as an justification.

I hate that lately I'm starting to see people call any and all forms of comedic writing "Marvel style." It feels like a repeat of the "CalArts style" shit from years ago (a meme/trope that was also grossly incorrect as the term "CalArts style" was meant to be a knock towards 2D animated Disney films, and a lot of the cartoons people were labeling "CalArts style" were made by people who never even went to that damn school; also "CalArts style" should have been disregarded the moment it became known it was fucking John K. who originated it). For one the more correct terminology should be "Whedon style" as the style people are complaining about was popularized by Joss Whedon going all the way back to his earlier works like Buffy and Firefly, and and as I've said so many times before what matters is the execution of a style, not the style itself. Like yes Forespoken is a good example of that style being done poorly, but I hate that now I'm beginning to see people act like literally any and all forms of comedic writing, nevermind the execution or context, is "stupid Marvel shit." Like I saw a dude arguing this in regards to Mario games like Mario Wonder and I just wanted to go "dude just shut the fuck up."

So it appears that Youtube is starting to step up its anti-adblock campaign by blocking video playback if an ad blocker is detected. I heard rumors about it as far back as May this year, but I just got my first couple warnings. If Reddit is anything to go by a large portion of ad block users is being affected. So far I've seen there are still loopholes being used by uBlockOrigin and they seem to do the trick, but they advise disabling custom filters for them to work. Unfortunately I use some of those to remove some of the most intrusive elements here on this site.

I knew things were going to get worse when they announced a new CEO, but I can't believe they're being so stupid and petty to think they can just bully people into turning off their adblockers. If it keeps up I guess I'll just have to stop watching Youtube altogether. Does anyone know of good alternatives?

I occasionally use Invidious or Piped.
They, while not really good enough to fully replace YT for me, are still incredibly useful in a lot of situations.

Fuck me I've succumbed to "culture war brainrot." I was just watching a video of a vtuber (Saruei) reacting to a fail compilation and when it got to a "fail that turns into a wholesome moment" (where a woman accidentally lost her grip on balloons she bought for her boyfriend's birthday, and said boyfriend went "oh don't worry about it, I'm just happy you wanted to make my birthday a little more special") my fucking brain's reaction was "how much you wanna bet some literal neo nazi would use this wholesome interaction between a white couple to push some 'trad life' shit?" Fuck me my brain's tainted just as badly as the hypothetical person I imagined in that moment, why the hell was THAT where my brain decided to go? I feel like I need a "brain detox" or something.

So, I was just browsing YouTube as I usually do each day. But I recently saw a video recommendation that was titled "The Marvels: The Biggest Flop in MCU History?" by The Critical Drinker. Now, I'm aware that The Marvels isn't the most hyped film in all of human history, and I'm aware of what kind of channel The Critical Drinker is. But the movie ISN'T EVEN OUT IN THEATERS YET! Are you really going to just declare something a failure when it hasn't even had an actual moment to perform at the box office? This kind of mentality is absolutely ridiculous. Even for someone like the Critical Drinker. Even if the film doesn't do amazingly well in the first week, that doesn't mean it's already a flop. Pixar's recent film, Elemental, had a rough opening week, and many people wrote it off as a box office bomb. Instead, what happened was, while it wasn't a sudden smash hit, it still was able to pick up a huge amount of steam later on in its theatrical release, and it ended up earning over $400 million at the box office, which made the film break even at worst, but that doesn't make the film a flop. Yes, I know The Marvels and Elemental are two completely different movies, which obviously means different expectations. But already calling a film that has NOT EVEN BEEN IN THE THEATERS YET a box office flop is absolutely infuriating to me.

@Mistress Fortune
Do you have any pets or other animals you can socialize with? Getting some quality time with beings unfettered to our narrative pretences can be quite refreshing.

Have you ever heard of "red MAGA"? Trump supporters who adopt elements Soviet communism? Usually they're a thing confined to the dark corners of the internet, but I met one in the wild the other day, and it lives in my head better than it should. He seriously opened up with "I'm not a communist, but…" before unleashing a stream of tankie talking points. He considers democracy to be a failed system for reasons he seemed hesitant to explain, dictatorship is good, but not if it's fascism, and he only has positive things to say about the USSR. He even had sympathetic words for North Korea.

Maybe I should dismiss him as a single lunatic, but it definitely touches my fear that we're only going to be seeing more totalitarian radicals acting on their viewpoints going forward.

Following up with my previous post, Delta has announced going back on some of the changes that they said they would do after hearing negative feedback. However, one thing that they're still keeping is no more access for SkyMiles Platinum! Luckily I decided to make a mini vacation just so I could experience the lounge while I still could, which is documented in the video below, but I still won't be able to share with my brother or anyone else that comes with me in future vacations.

Three days ago, I finally finished Elden Ring after neglecting to buy and start it for a whole year after its release due to many different things taking my attention away.

It's phenomenal, and I can totally see why people are calling it the peak of Fromsoft, and it will definitely be remembered for a long time, but in the end, there were some things in the game that kept me from giving it an actual perfect score.

The first is the Lordsworn footmen, soldiers, and knights. Practically every Fromsoft game has had a "standard humanoid" enemy that acts as the common mook for the area it's in, and they've always tried their best to keep them unique with different weapons, armor, and movesets so that they don't feel the same. But this cannot be said about the Lordsworn; they ALL have the same weapons, the same armor, and the same movesets, with only miniscule differences in armor look and, in some cases, skills and throwables, but thats it; they legit feel as if they were specifically created to be palete swaps. And they are found in all the areas of the game. Granted, there's probably a good explanation for this since this is the first time they tried to make a game of this large scale, so coming up with different enemies for such a long game was probably overwhelming for them, but still, it was quite annoying, and I am hoping this won't be repeated if they are planning to make a game of similar scale in the future. The second problem that bugged me in the game was how commonly bosses end up being rehashed, and I don't think I need to say much more about it since, from what I've seen, it's a very common complaint. The third thing is not really related to game design and is more personal, so Fromsoft has always put huge emphasis on lore, and you can definitely see this shine a lot in Elden Ring; it's definitely the most deep game lore Fromsoft has ever done, but at the same time it leaves us with many, MANY holes. Sure, this is definitely not the first time Fromsoft has proposedly left holes in so that we can fill them with speculation, but I really feel they overdid it this time around the story's first mystery, where the story starts with ending up without any explanation, and that in my book really stinks. Here's hoping the DLC ends up clearing some stuff up, that's all.

Since everyone else is giving their 2 cents whenever any hint of blood in the water in regards to Nintendo. And addition to regards to smash bros community. I really wanted to speak about my feelings in regards to the community I’ve formally a part of. But since my whole statement would have a lot of baggage, I'll just posted here in the Vent thread.

But in regards to the Japanese rulesets, while I’m don’t pay much attention to smash, I do towards competitive Pokemon. The ruleset for VGC Pokemon in Japan is notorious for having so many absurd restrictions to many Japanese players. To the point that if compare the format form there and the standard national tournament is night and day. I would go into further lengths about what’s wrong with the Japanese VGC, but Wolfe made a far mode detail video.

But I would say this, if these are the kind of rules that has to be a mandate. Then ignore them! What stopping people from forming their own private tournaments? Like what they’ll gonna do, send their ninjas to stop them from having fighting tournaments inside a StarBuck’s restroom?

But on the flipside, I do agreed to what Nintendo did for the hard restriction. Because I really dislike e-sports and how it ultimately affected games to be no longer to be fun to play when you have to constantly stick to the meta with the ever changing patches of nerfs/buffs every week or so. And at that point, why bother playing a game were you couldn’t even recognize the same character/weapons before.

I know this is just beating a dead horse at this point. But the first Overwatch is a prime example of why I don’t bother playing. Back then, I used to main Roadhog only to realize the abundance of “revisions” the developers made for this character every month, aka nerf it hell and back due to constant complaints from pro-gamers. Despite the fact that the character’s whole play style is similar to a boss. And that doesn’t consider the fact that most of the complaints are from players who main DPS in a team based shooter where the whole point is to unitize the whole team instead of soloing. But that’s a different tangent about online multiplayer games.

[ Continue ]

And if your wondering, no, I don’t have any loyalty about Nintendo. Get that mind out of the gutter will you? The only time I get a Nintendo game is from Christmas gifts from my mother since it’s a lot more easy for her to just get the game from gamestop than for me listing my very niche request and she really want to give me something for the holidays. Bless her heart for trying at least. But I basically have every Nintendo rom files up to the WiiU/3DS era on my SSD card. But you wouldn’t know that since I don’t gloat about having nearly a terabyte size of games that I’ll most likely never going to played, clogging up useful space on my computer because I’m not some redditor who circlejecks themselves while quoting “piracy is morally correct” every five seconds for karma. I don’t give a shit about if your buy or boycotting Nintendo, I just hope you still hold the same regards to other companies and don’t play favoritism, especially if they’re doing the same shit.

Because I’ll tell you one thing, this is more of an issue about the Japanese companies for the absolute preservation of their own industry and IPs. and to the extent their own country as they have a tunnel vision about the rest of the world in regards to features and implementation of games. What do you think the reason why so many people in the fighting community begging for roll-back for so many modern games? It because many Japanese developers only implement the online matches on Japan and the rest of the world a second thought. But it’s difficult to pin point who’s more to blame when either Nintendo is notorious because it’s the most prevalent example of so many of Japanese practices, or it’s because it’s one of the biggest and most acknowledge videogame company in the world.

It’s kind of funny how I just watch a thread about people speak about what they dislike about the community, only to went back here to discover this controversy. And I’m going to be real with all of you. I have a very strong, conflicting opinions about Nintendo. But I also have a very strong disdain about the smash community, especially Melee.

For so many years, I’ve been sided with smash/melee community when it regards to the whole disconnect to Nintendo’s relationship towards fan creation and community around Brawl in regards to very early instances of bans/DMCAs. But that was long ago. Now, I deeply regret being associated with them. While I do have some respect with the commitment of what the community has brought, I have no love for any Smash fans anymore.

Look, I’m not saying that Smash is the worst community I’ve been to. I just saying that it’s really up there with MOBA communities like LoL & DOTA and I’m sick of tired of pretending it isn’t. I’ve never seen a community this toxic about… everything and everyone and every possible notion. Although, this might be a unique case given that this series is a mega crossover with so many different IPs. But the issues are so obscene that you think that this also extended by the actual franchises. But no, this is completely unique to Smash Bros and Melee alone.

I can already tell that comparing Smash to League of Legends is exaggerated. But I really wish it isn’t. Legit, you get death threats when playing smash bros if you’re using a certain character in a certain way. I used to main Ness/Lucas since Earthbound is my favorite franchise and I want to play a character that’s associated with them. But the second I use Side B in a player match, all hell basically break lose. I’m getting bombard by insults left to right by people online. And that’s not just a couple of matches, that's an accumulation of years worth of bullshit I’ve been through. And it’s not just those characters, it’s basically half the entire roster. I’ve been dealt with so much petty harassment, to the point that I basically hide whatever mains I’m using online since the community has a unique way of shit talking me or falsely associated me towards individuals. And that’s not even the worst thing I’ve deal with.

[ continue ]

Around Ultimate being in development and announcing DLC characters, I basically unsubscribe, hide, and ignore almost every videogame youtuber until the last DLC fighter is announce. I was very jaded by the hundreds of speculating video essays for content creators making overhype guesses on characters that have no chance into being the game because their assumptions are absurd from the most obscure character imaginable. I wonder how we even get from here? That’s when I went back to the first trailer of Sm4sh featuring Villager is when I horrid realized. That’s the day that I discover that this is the exact moment were discussion videogames online was ruined. And it’s all thanks to a particular red imprinted envelope.

The whole roster faggotry have caused every discussion for every game on the internet to tarnish. It doesn’t help that this causes so much discourse everywhere you go either. Not only it overshadow every 3rd party game outside Nintendo, but also every Nintendo game around that period! Imagine my frustration when I want to talk about a certain Nintendo game when everyone else talk down to me saying, “who would want this literal who character in Smash? GTFO!” despite the fact that I never mention smash bros in the discussions. Or how they’re outright disregard every game during every Nintendo Direct because it isn’t related to smash to the point they still make complaints during indie/third party Directs when the whole point is that it’s non-Nintendo related! And even when there is a Smash trailer, it’ll cause a bigger flame war from many people online.

It’s not like I’m above them all either, I’m also guilty of this. I dislike the Byleth trailer/announcement direct, not because it’s another Fire Emblem character. It’s because the thing plays off uncharacteristically tongue-in-check throughout the whole presentation. It’s basically, “look, I get it. Another anime sword fighter in my Super Smash game!!!1!1!😱😱😱😱😱 man don’t you hate when that happens?😏 So anyway-” no just because you’re being self aware doesn’t make it any better, it just becomes more annoying if they just be sincere about it. It just feel, weirdly cynical…

The only speculation that I’ve ever made throughout Ultimate for the final character is Master Hand as a poetic way of ending of the game/series. But Sora is a nice addition since Kingdom Hearts is my dearly beloved franchise. I’m still amazed how they manage to create an agreement to Disney of all companies.

But this whole discussion of the roster have also overshadow Smash bros itself. You will most likely won’t find any discussions about the game modes, the unique customize modes featuring spirits, or compilations of fights and interesting tech that many players find and created. There out there, but it’s a drop of water in the ocean of Smash bros’ roster arguments. And even after the final character, there’s still strife in the modding community in which people don’t create new characters in Ultimate for fun, they did it form malice. Like Sakurai supposed to owned them for something when he has the right to not cater to these individuals who are this bitter. And the even sadder thing is, this isn’t even the worst part of smash bros.

[ okay I'm almost done ]

It’s Melee… Lets… lets be real for a second. Even if Nintendo is being chill with Melee and allow to have tournaments without notable restrictions, not even the standard e-sports brands want to listed them back. And it’s all thanks to this particular game requires so much fucking requirements. Tell me, do you really thing someone at EVO would get several dedicated CRT televisions, custom gamecube controllers, a good condition SSBM gamecube disc on top of the console itself? no. it doesn’t help that Melee just so happen to be the most cost sinking fighting community out there. You have to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars just to get the perfect setup for having a tournament. And it’s not just this community’s harmful behavior. and I’m not talking about the poor hygine or the pedophile allegations. I’m talking about the fact that playing competitive Melee can get people fucking arthritis in their early 30’s! That kind of commitment isn’t worth it to so many newcomers! This is what happens when you take gaming elitism to an extreme measure.

I’ve been through a bunch of Nintendo fan communities who partake in rom hacks/ modding. Paper Mario, Pikmin, Mario 64, Legend of Zelda, and other smaller groups. And yes, they do have deal with DMCA’s from time to time. But you think that a mega crossover franchise featuring some many Nintendo franchises that haven’t been relevant to the company for so many years that many of the fans of their respected IPs made their own modding communities, to even making their own original games that take inspiration towards them. You would of assume that, so many people also have deal with the same struggles about the Nintendo’s own business decisions and neglect, that maybe they also share the same rebuttal about this company. But no. fuck all of that. Melee fans just throws every Nintendo related community under the bus and burning every bridge possible for not giving as much of a fuck about #freemelee movement as they do. And it’s not like they only have Melee to thrive when theirs other competitive focus platform fighters out there. For fuck sake, theres Nickelodeon AllStar Brawl that has every tech from Melee and made by the same people behind SlapCity who’s prior work is greatly regarded by the smash community. Instead of moving on to something better, they insist on sticking to this uphill battle where everything is against them, the company, the community, and theirselves. To quote a specific line in Spongebob to describe the past decade(s) of what I feel about melee fans, is this:
“we all have unfulfilled dreams. What makes you so special?”

There are better ways of connecting the community, to build stronger numbers and rise their voice and complaints about the issues that everyone has to deal with for the past couple of decades. But comparing every individual who slightly associated with Nintendo to fucking Moviebob isn’t going to help at all…