‘Adventures in OCD (and Other Mental Shenanigans)’ has had about a hundred and fifty thousand sequels at this point and I’m beginning to wonder if I’m maybe growing a bit tired of the overdone and recycled plotlines.

Other than that, mostly meh. Some good, some bad, it’s a veritable everything bagel. I could do with a bit less seasoning, though, if I’m being honest. Like maybe bring it down to a chill poppy seed affair. That’d be nice for a while.

I’ve been playing Batman Arkham origins. Never played it when it came out but loved the other ones. It’s pretty good so far!

I really enjoyed Origins. It embraced the “detective” aspect a lot better, IMO. Also enjoyed the, well, origins of what essentially became Batman and Joker’s inevitable “love story”. Troy Baker played him really well.

Also, it’s pretty funny hearing Sonic voice Batman. I mean, I know he does a ton of other voices, but the contrast is always hilarious to me.

Anyway, onto me…

After taking a weeklong break from video games, I started playing something on my wishlist that finally went on sale again: Unheard - Voices of Crime. Detective game where you solve the cases by listening to conversations and identifying people by their voices/dialogue. The visuals are basically just floor plans and moving from room to room from a top down perspective in order to hear whoever’s speaking in that room.

All the recordings are binaural as well, so wherever you move your “character”, the volume and location of the voices change. It’s pretty interesting and not too long.

Today, I began Dungeons of Hinterberg. At first, super fun. Then got a bit bored because stuff felt samey. Then got interested again. I expect this pattern is going to continue. Despite being a dungeon crawler, it’s a pretty chill game.

Basically, think Breath of the Wild-type shrines mixed with Persona-style social sim gameplay. You do dungeons (or not, you don’t have to if you don’t want to) in the day, explore and spend time with people in the city at night.

Sounds like some typical David Cage bullshit. Wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was one of his games.

Yeah, I feel exposed without my glasses. I had the same pair of frames for well over a decade, so they were basically an integral part of “my face”. Only got a new pair a couple of years ago to replace them because time did eventually wear 'em down.

Also, they do good job masking the ever-present racoon bags under my eyes, which is nice.

Thanks for asking this!

I’ve been using glasses for over two thirds of my life and through this thread I’ve now discovered the existence of ultrasonic cleaners.

Only advice I have is if you’re sensitive to bright lights or have sensory issues.

As someone with pretty significant sensory issues, transition lenses have made my life a lot easier, especially as they got better over time (used to take much longer to go back to normal, but now it’s pretty quick).

That said, it’s like Marmite. People either love it or hate it. And a lot of people hate it.

Oh, and headphones. If you use headphones a lot, there may sometimes be issues with fit and/or seal.

Things that aren’t too tight for people who don’t wear glasses can cause a major headache for people that do. While the best option is to try before buying, sometimes you don’t get to try then long enough and discover later when you’re trying to listen to music. Check reviews which will often mention whether or not people with glasses find them comfy first.

Sometimes it also breaks the seal a tiny bit and could cause the sound to be a smidge less bassy, although I’ve never actually experienced anything particularly significant when it comes to that myself.

Kinda funny how easy it is for me to lose complete interest in something and also just how freeing that can be.

It’s nice.

I’ve been waiting to see how they’re going to fuck up NSFW subs and I’m willing to bet that’s where this is going.

I can only hope it affects the ones that focus on self-promotion, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just decide to charge for access to NSFW subs entirely, since they already removed access entirely from the free API, which apps like RedReader use.(*)

I know I’m not the only one who basically only has an account for that stuff, although a lot of those subs have turned to shit over the last year or so, anyway. AI generated nonsense, self-promotion even when it’s discouraged, bad moderation, some disappearing entirely because they were abandoned back last year…

(*) Technically, you can still view that content without an account via Old Reddit (or at least you could a few months ago, haven’t checked recently), but that’s inevitably going to be killed as well, it’s just a matter of “when”.

Maybe “very” was too strong a word, but I mainly meant the melee combat.

Although to be honest, other than the blackjack, people shouldn’t really be using melee much, so it’s not that much of a problem.

It’s mostly when the zombie dudes come into play that the sword combat can feel dated if you take them on directly.

No prob. The first game actually has some fantastic mods and also a ton of incredibly well-crafted fan-made levels.

You might want a few tiny mods for Deus Ex as well, though it doesn’t really require much.

Kind of funny that it was “too violent” because you can go through most of the game without even killing anyone. It’s my preferred playstyle, just sleep darts and stealth stuff.

Actually, you’ll have a bit of a rough time if you go in guns ablaze. A lot of people used to shooters end up being obliterated on the first level when they initially play it, which is what happened to me when I first played it on release. Came back to it years later after I’d discovered Thief and suddenly felt right at home.

Edit: Oh, and it’s also available on GOG. Most of the earlier immersive sims (Thief, Deus Ex, System Shock, Ultima, Arx Fatalis, etc.) are.

Do note that in your post you mentioned things that have aged well, and while I think it’s fine, hey can feel very clunky, especially in comparison to some of the games heavily influenced by them (e.g. Dishonored, among others).

You might want to add some mods just to touch some things up.

Also, while the second game is my favourite, don’t sleep on the third, especially if you like horror because one of the later levels is fucking incredible. I say all of this as someone who ordinarily hates supernatural-type horror.

And the third game also expands on the lore, which I like.

All of them are available on GOG and Steam.

Similar to Thief, the original Deus Ex is a great game which might also show its age a bit, but I think stands the test of time for the most part.

Thief 2023

I think you meant 2014, unless there’s something I missed from last year.

Played the three games developed Accidental Queens because I’ve been in an interactive fiction/detective mood.

Started off with A Normal Lost Phone and Another Lost Phone, then headed into their gem of a game they later developed called Alt-Frequencies. Super fun narrative-focused game with a cool time loop premise. Great voice acting as well.

It’s been nice playing these short little games lately. Enjoying them quite a bit.

It was confirmed Sublinks a little while ago:

https://beehaw.org/comment/3686715

Anyway I finished another game! This time chants of senaar. This game is sooooo good. One of my faves all time id say. Scratches the obra dinn outer wilds itch.

Yeah, really great game. Without getting into spoiler territory, I appreciate how there’s that one thing that every society in the game appreciates and it’s what brings them together despite their differences, most of which were down to (obviously) lack of communication. It’s just this simple, yet emotional touch of humanity that unites them all over the course of the game.

Anyway, as for me, I finished up Song of Farca, which was a fun little experience. Then I played Overboard!, a darkly humourous narrative/interactive fiction/puzzle game about getting away with murder.

Took me a little while, but I successfully murdered the husband, got the insurance, tied up all loose ends, and got a delicious snack as a bonus.

There’s a jazz/soul radio station in the first game that has some real bangers as well if you’re into that.

Song of Farca.

A fun little hacky detective puzzle game reminiscent of games like Orwell and its sequel, but with a more engaging cast of characters.

Thanks very much, I appreciate that.

I hope the same thing but in the meantime, just gonna try to practice some mindfulness and let it flow.

Thanks for the kind words!

Unfortunately, it’s a little too complicated and I think I just need a break from most stuff, including the ranting, lol.

Thanks for asking, though. Really appreciate it.

Not great.

To be honest, I feel quite hopeless.

Just a lot of bullshit not in my control that’s taking its toll.

Yeah, that definitely sounds like something that I’d love to sink a bunch of time into. On to the wishlist it goes!