Canto[n]

Thank you. I feel a constant worry about falling behind: I have to catch up with my study, I have a video game backlog, I have a Youtube backlog, I have an IRL activities backlog, I have a socialization backlog…

I have trouble keeping up with “the rest” and it hurts when see people live more exciting lives than me, but I also know that I’m capable of a lot, given the right conditions and social support. It’s why Star Force struck such a nerve with me: Geo becoming stronger as a person, making friends, having such an eventful life and becoming a beacon of positivity for people… it was everything I wanted to be, and on first encounter a year ago, it made me burst into tears over how much I wasn’t.

The dangers of escapism, as well as “main character syndrome”, are something I am very conscious of. My attitude is: “it’s okay to escape when the real world breaks you, but one should do so responsibly, and do not forget about doing things IRL.”

I have had people recommend Persona 3 and 5 to me, but in my head I go: “I have to balance socializing, studying, having fun and the passage of time? I rather do that in real life than waste so many of my scarce hours for gamified imitations of those.”

The most fundamental goal in my life to me is becoming more resistant to harmful thought/action patterns, to resolve the contradictions in my head so that, like Geo, a “new me” can be themselves to the fullest extent and I can show the world my full potential.

I don’t know how tough things are for you, but I hope that you can come out of it.

I still want to ask some things about your playthrough, but since the megathread is closing now, might I suggest direct messaging, rather than via megathreads?

(This person beat this game so close to me in a week. It took me a year and I have stalled on playing it for months…)

(The game hit me so hard at times -it has made me cry on multiple occasions, the music even more often- that getting the courage to continue was most of the time too much, and I was already occupied by school and other things…)

(I didn’t feel strong enough at most times, to handle whatever the game would throw at me emotionally or in battles…)

(Why does everything go so slow for me? I feel stuck.)

(The anxiety from a year ago - i-it’s back…)

(I feel like I’m missing out on so much, because most of my days are indoors and monotone. I keep making promises to myself, only to not follow through…)

(My self-confidence had already been shattered yesterday because mom snapped at me…)

(I hit a low point every month. I feel so weak…)

I haven’t played Battle Network myself either yet. Fans of Battle Network have historically disliked Star Force because of the changes to the battle system, with common complaints being lack of complexity/depth and difficulty. However, I have also seen people deduce it to: Battle Network has better gameplay, but Star Force has better story/characters. It’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, in that regard. But the math also changes from game to game:

• Star Force 1 has the most primitive gameplay (which a fan-made “DX” patch addresses to an extent) but a very impactful story with well-written characters, Geo’s character arc is almost perfect and I relate to him a lot in my own struggles with anxiety and social isolation. Think BN1 but with better story.
• Star Force 2 has hit-or-miss changes to the gameplay and its story is very meh. BN4 but without the translation errors or tournaments.
• Star Force 3 again has an excellent story (but more action-packed rather than deep like 1’s), a great conclusion to the trilogy, and it’s when they nailed the gameplay. Some people have even declared it the best of the Mega Man RPGs.

As a Star Force fan I of course wish for you two to give it a shot. It wasn’t given a fair shake when it came out and I think it deserves more love.

I’m not enough of an expert on all the battle cards to say anything definively, unfortunately. I didn’t even get these two.

My gut says Darkness Hole, because Poison Pharaoh seems to require an empty space two tiles ahead, suggesting you can waste it if there isn’t (Darkness Hole doesn’t need that); and while it can speed up a fight if you get it early, it’s pretty ineffective when you get it late (if you get Darkness Hole too early, you can just keep it for later).

that just means that the savings will be used on even bigger models.

There’s a name for that: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

They seem to have replaced it with a mere photo of Warwick’s shopping district now:

Edit: on the Wayback Machine, even the earliest snapshot uses this photo (6 hours after it was published). This screenshot might be fake, or it might be a still from an accompanying video. Can’t check though, because even on the Wayback Machine the paywall persists…

For me it’s magnets, but hey, electricity and magnetism are manifestions of the same force.

Incredible stuff.

Also Total Recall

You’ve come to the right address lol

I’m autistic too with no prior experience with Battle Network-style gameplay and my reflexes aren’t the best either (I can panic and make mistakes easily), but I still beat the final boss on the second attempt with little to no grinding, just playing the game with that ROM patch and doing all the sidequests. Haven’t done much of the post-game yet though.

The first Star Force game is rather easy compared to Battle Network before it, the patch even includes a custom hard mode you can turn on and off whenever you want, as lack of difficulty was a common critique among fans.

In short: it’s very doable, however things can get overwhelming with three or more enemies at once.

As for the story: a common opinion I’ve seen is that the Battle Network series has better gameplay, while Star Force (except 2, which fumbled it) has some of the best writing in the Mega Man franchise. The following bit is personal, so it may not hit you as hard as me.

The MC’s character growth has unironically been inspirational for me; the game’s aesthetic, theming and music fully understood me in the worst period of my life. It reminded me of what I want to be and do in a time where I felt hopeless about overcoming anxieties and incapacities. It made me believe in myself again. I haven’t been the same person since, and while I still fall in familiar pitfalls and still have anxieties about self-image and competence, I feel like now I’m truly growing up. (I’m 20 years old and studying)

Battle Network!!

(Haven’t played it yet, but have played Star Force and get happy when I see anything Mega Man-related)

Reminds me of the Nisour Square Massacre in Baghdad by Blackwater mercenaries:

One of the senior military officers who testified before the grand jury, Col. Michael Tarsa, said that he rushed to the scene and came upon a “white Kia with two corpses inside, decimated with bullet holes and on fire,” the report said. He also saw other nearby vehicles “riddled with bullet holes,” even though they were “apparently fleeing the shooting.”

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20170227170643/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/world/middleeast/17blackwater.html

It’s an isekai lol

It’s VERY bright and colourful. It kinda looks like they made a Mario game with an engine used for anime games. They seem to continue the trend set by Wonder in making things very bold and expressive, now with cel shading.

And it’s no longer constrained by the 3DS screen resolution, it’s such a big improvement.

This new world seems to revolve around electrical stuff it seems. People made out of plugs and sockets and all that.

Anyway, glad that this series gets continued after the original developer shut down.

Number 5 is almost the subtitle of the first Bubsy game lol

For the record, this isn’t in China. It’s a project in Malaysia near Singapore that is targeted at rich people. It’s basically a “sustainable” gated community.

And by “sustainable” I mean that they destroyed wetlands to build it.

It was a project by a Chinese housing developer and was an extension of the real estate bubble over there. A lot of buyers were Chinese, however, according to Wikipedia:

initial strong sales from China collapsed after its leader Xi Jinping implemented currency controls, including a $50,000 annual cap on how much buyers could spend outside the country.

The developer responsible is one of the big shots that suffered when the housing bubble was forced to pop. I have no qualms riffing on this particular project.

For the record: he’s a former MP for Likud, between 2013 and 2015. He now has his own far-right party (named “Zehut” aka “Identity”) and would run against Netanyahu in the next elections, according to Middle East Eye. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-former-knesset-member-moshe-feiglin-invokes-hitler-while-calling-gaza-resettlement

Oh, nice!