I’m sticking to slowly clearing my backlog for now but thanks for the recommendation! So much to play, so little time…

Oh, I didn’t try to imply you did. It’s just I’ve seen a lot of talk about this route being more… rough (on a story rather than quality level), so to speak? If that’s the case I’m just not in a headspace for something like that and would rather play it when I’m in a position to better appreciate what’s there. Maybe I just misunderstood people’s thoughts about it, that’s also a possibility.

Either way I do want to go back to it eventually, if only to spend some more time with both characters (I do find them fun whenever they show up in other routes).

A lot of comments I’ve seen about Shizune’s route suggested it probably wouldn’t be something I’ll enjoy, that’s why I decided to skip it for now. I might give it a shot some day but for now I’m just happy with all the other great stuff in the VN.

Katawa Shoujo is great!

I played it years ago and decided to replay it again a few months back. My initial playthrough was limited to Hanako’s route (got a bad ending which I’m kind of baffled by after the replay) so this time I wanted to try out the other ones as well. Rin’s story ended up being a surprise highlight of the whole process in a way I wasn’t really prepared for (had some very familiar thoughts showing up there). Her whole story just clicked with me and wouldn’t let go until some time after finishing it.

All the other routes were great as well (haven’t touched Shizune/Misha one) and I’m glad I decided to give it another shot for an expanded experience. It was worth it and made me wish for more games with disabled protagonist/characters (without using it as their main characteristic obviously).

I tried playing Bahamut Lagoon, a Japan only SNES TRPG, but had to stop due to some technical issues with the unofficial translation. The little bit I did manage to play (prologue and the first scene after that) was interesting enough so I’ll definitely try again, I just need to get back to my PC so I can research what’s wrong with it.

To keep with the theme I started Jeanne d’Arc, the PSP TRPG, instead. I like the art style, animated cutscenes and gameplay. Not a huge fan of the fantastical elements but they’re not a dealbreaker either. I’m not sure what to think about the story just yet - I like it for the most part but there are some things that make me a bit wary since they might potentially turn into tropes I’m not going to be happy with. It’s a “wait and see” for now since I’m still pretty early on. It’s good so far.

Did you know Need For Speed: World is alive and kicking? Not officially, obviously, but through the power of fan servers and the wonderful project that is Soapbox Race World. It’s not the best NFS in the series and can be pretty tough if you play it without power ups but it’s fun.

For those who never heard of NFS:W - it’s a live service, online only entry in the series. It consists of maps from Most Wanted and Carbon combined into one and brings some additional gameplay changes specific for the live service model (power ups, performance parts with incremental stats upgrades etc). It also has a pretty good visual editor - can be a bit cumbersome at times but you can do some great stuff with it.

Fan servers are surprisingly active and provide A LOT of new cars, parts etc do play with. They also have different rules so if you want a place where getting everything you want is easy, you can do that as well.

My second game is Wagahime or Waga Himegimi ni Eikan o, a comedy visual novel by Minato Soft. Unlike their other work (that I read anyway) it’s set in a medieval fantasy world with magic, beast races and all the usual stuff. It has three main routes, each expanding the world and providing details for the other ones, and each filled with fun characters and events.

I won’t be spending much time on it since all that’s left is finishing the final route but it’s a great read and I really wanted to mention it. Minato Soft seriously reignited my love for VNs lately.

Last but not least, Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery - a sci-fi strategy RPG. It came out this year so I’m not going to go too much into it but it’s a great and at times challenging title. Worth looking into if you’re interested in this genre.

Of course, building trust is definitely an important part though even that can be misinterpreted as trying to be tricky. But yeah, I agree.

As I said before, I have a bit of an idealistic view on things and try to approach everyone at face value even if their criticism or question might seem antagonistic or a bait. As long as they aren’t obviously trying to start shit I’m willing to start by giving people a naive benefit of a doubt - one that’s very easily lost if things go south but still. That’s just me trying to find a right way to do things for myself though.

I absolutely wouldn’t want to convince people to change their approach to my liking. Everyone has their own threshold of bullshit they’re willing to put up with.

Some people definitely use it as such and I do think it became more and more common as the previously mentioned habit of treating accepting criticism as a weakness started being normalized. It’s something worth keeping in mind but preferably within reason. It’s also worth remembering that besides the usual jerks there are people who mean well but are complete trash when it comes to communicating - this is another issue with the lack of proper teaching about how to approach criticism in my opinion.

That said, just because someone tries to belittle you for your mistake or can’t provide proper feedback doesn’t mean the actual criticism is wrong. Sure, you shouldn’t take everything people say as complete truth but rather use it for introspection instead. They might have a point, even if they try to use it against you.

I don’t disagree with your point, humans aren’t always a nice and friendly bunch. I do think however that some people use this kind of thinking to shield themselves from accepting their own shortcomings. I used to be terrified of people criticizing my work/knowledge/actions and would react with anger (in my head and towards myself) for letting myself get to this position. It’s something that can be really hard to overcome.

Again, I don’t want to present my way of thinking as the one true way. I was lucky enough I didn’t have to deal with people trying to put me down for their own benefit (or fun) so my mindset is a bit more… idealistic (?) than if I were bullied as a kid or trampled as a coworker. There is no perfect answer and the best I can do is to try doing what I preach.

I’m also interested in how other people approach this question so I’ll be coming back to reading through this thread when I have some time.

Most people aren’t taught how to deal with criticism and see it as a personal attack, an attempt to discredit them. This leads a culture where people are afraid/unwilling to admit they were wrong (it’s a sign of weakness after all, “I can’t be weak”) and would rather dig themselves towards more and more absurd explanations and deflections on how they are the correct ones.

The more popular this stance becomes (compare how stars or politicians, the ones setting an example, act now and how they were few decades ago) the more it spreads, powering the cycle of pride and unwillingness to say “I was wrong”.

That’s how I see it at least. It’s not exactly a professional or scientific look at the issue so there might be better explanations out there.

That’s good to know, thanks!

Much obliged for that! I often think about writing on what I’m playing but end up forgetting due to time constraints - threads like this one definitely help with that.

I get that, it’s just if there’s no mod to post it I think it’s better to have a topic rather than not, especially since it can be pinned afterwards if any mod stumbles into the community again.

We could also bully them into setting up a bot that would post those automatically but this might have its own issues since some people disable bot submissions.

That sounds encouraging. I’ve been meaning to give it a shot but the backlog is a fickle beast and lives by its own rules.

How’re the Kb/M controls?

Majikoi! Love Me Seriously! S - it’s a wacky visual novel about a group of high-schoolers in a world where melee combat is pretty much commonplace and all the girl MCs are action manga level of strong. Series is hilarious and I can’t stop playing it after getting swept of my feet by Momo in the first game (ended up blazing through it in two days which doesn’t happen often these days). This one is a sequel with the same (though epanded) crew and I really can’t wait to jump back in.

As for the monthly thread, I feel like if it doesn’t happen “officially” the first person to have something to write should just post one themselves instead of waiting. Not like there’s a lot of activity here so it should remain visible long enough to gain traction.

That doesn’t seem to do much for me unfortunately. In my case the potential time I need to reserve for a gaming session tends to take precedence over hype whenever I’m in a lazy, scroll-focused rut. Still trying to get back to a recent(ish) release I was super hyped playing during its beta period… At least I have a semi decent explanation for this one, I guess.

While I can’t provide you with a proper scientific answer I can offer a basic explanation - it’s effort.

Browsing through the never ending amount of content online requires no effort but provides you with a dopamine rush as if you actually managed to accomplish or do something with your time. Other stuff, like watching movies, playing games, reading books, etc. requires attention and active participation, the payoff on the other hand is largely delayed (especially compared to the lazy option).

As for hacks… I don’t know any. The only ways I know how to deal with it is limiting your time scrolling through this stuff and forcing yourself to do other things - it can be rough early on but you’ll eventually get used to the “normal” way of functioning.

Ahhh, gotcha. I checked the links in OP this time and honestly the NFSU version sounds like many radio edits I heard before so I’m not sure what to tell you. Couldn’t find an official radio version to compare but I don’t really hear anything strange there.

Is it a ham-fisted way to do it? Sure. Personally I chuck it up to the fact not every label bothers with a less noticeable edit for their songs.

A lot of explicit music has (or used to have) a “radio version” which silenced or changed the offensive language so they could be used in places and products aimed at a younger audience. That’s what this is.

Music isn’t the only thing with censored cuts. Have you ever seen old TV versions of mature rated movies? Die Hard, Scarface and many others had swearing redubbed in corny and unfitting ways just so they could be played on the small screen.

It’s just another way of “protecting” kids from one thing while completely disregarding other, more screwed up elements still present in the same media.

Just appeal to another AI - two of them can’t be wrong at the same time, I’m sure of it!

They’re going to replace them with an AI powered tool, aren’t they? If they’re going to replace them at all that is.