impuuuu

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Everything posted by impuuuu

  1. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss It's been a while since I've read these books, but I'm still eagerly awaiting the third (and I think final) installment. The storytelling in this book is amazing; the change of scenes and times and scenarios captivated me throughout the whole thing. Just in the first book there are several distinct settings, and the worldbuilding is focused on certain details but still very good. This is a story framed within another story. We have a present-day Kvothe settled down and dealing with looming issues, and also being slightly angsty over his past, as he tells his story to a scribe. The magic system is definitely one of my favorite things about this series! The main system, called sympathy, is made out to be like a science, with precise measurements and knowledge needed to perform it, just like any other intellectual discipline. It doesn't feel unfair when magic is used, since this novel is so good about explaining the wit and problem-solving the main character uses to work out problems. Also subtly explored throughout the series is the more traditional magic that you usually see in fantasy novels, but this kind of magic of controlling elements is very rare and requires a lot of soul searching. It's actually where the title of the first book comes from. I loved the characters; especially the main character who is also the narrator. I think I've seen some complaints that he's too cocky and confident, but I personally don't see that as a problem; I suspect it may be because most young adult fantasy novels have that wimpy main character who has things thrown into his lap for him. While Kvothe (pronounced "Quothe") has a lot of inherent talents and ability, it's great to see how he uses them throughout the story to solve conflict and get where he needs to go. Female characters are very meh and flat. It seems like the author doesn't really know how girls work to be honest, and there are a couple scenes that come to mind that make me cringe a little on the inside. It's definitely not super distracting overall however, although the plot line involving the main character and his wandering love interest is kind of iffy and confusing at times. I feel like since I haven't read this story in a while I'm not really doing justice to how good I felt about this book while I was reading it and reflecting on it. Seriously-- if you like epic fantasy I recommend reading a bit of the series. I think it's ranked quite high up there on Goodreads on certain fantasy lists, and for good reason. As always, I can describe the plot a bit, but the writing really has to be experienced for yourself.
  2. Mobile Gaming Discussion !

    I've got folders and folders of games on my iPhone and mobile is my most used platform atm since I can play a variety of things on the go. Life has been good since I got the 128 GB phone and have yet to run out of space! I just wish that mobile games didn't have the trend that they've had, with the "top" free games absolutely flooded with the same type of build shit, waiting, and pay for premium currency thing going on. Too bad it's so profitable to sell indulgence rather than providing actual content for extra fees Hunting through the app store for good games can be a little hard because of all the spam of things that aren't what you'd really consider a gaming experience. I just think that iOS games and mobile games in general could be sooo much better, and there are some goodies, they're just hard to find. I'm curious-- what you do you think of mobile gaming? Got any recommendations? Looking for a certain type of game? Discuss!
  3. Mobile Gaming Discussion !

    I tried Star Realm! On iPhone the cards are so hard to read. And the double-touch to zoom in is tedious. The mechanics seem pretty interesting though, and I like the campaign mode!
  4. Other podcasts

    Nightvale is a Lovecraftian-style podcast of silly stories and happenings in this fictitious town of Nightvale. I like the first two episodes, but the silliness and randomness kind of falls off. Interesting series though! Any others like it?
  5. Mad Men

    Rewatching Mad Men and still can't believe how gorgeous the writing is. Character development is subtle and you can see it through not just witty, pithy dialogue, but the cinematography itself. Also never realized how much I'd enjoy a period show. This show is actually a work of art, every episode. It explores disconnection from society, unhappiness, happiness, relationships, aspirations, and the different values of the 60's and early 70's. You will fall in love with the characters and how shitty, good, and human they can be. I haven't actually finished the series though, since Netflix only has the first part of the last season... Part of the reason I'm rewatching I guess, so that I can smoothly transition into finishing the series since it's been so long since I've watched.
  6. If you have an iPhone or iPad (not sure if it's on android) you might enjoy Vain Glory. It's a fully polished Lords Management, 3v3s, and games really do usually last 30 mins or less. It's got one lane and a jungle with some interesting jungle objectives. The hero selection is pretty solid, and every one has three abilities + an ulti. Item system as well, unlike HotS. I'd say it's reaaally well made for the platform, and it has around the same simplicity as HotS. Also-- why does M O B A get changed to Lords Management?
  7. Idle Cook Club - Veggie Feeds-me: My Body Is Ready

    Ooooh excuse to learn how to make refried beans. With CHEESE. Everything needs cheese.
  8. The Dancing Thumb (aka: music recommendations)

    whimsical, upbeat, happy carefree vibes 8)
  9. Life

    College is so intimidating but I'm excited. I'm at that age where I feel like stuff definitely needs to start getting done if it's ever going to get done, and I hope I don't stall out.
  10. Infinite Jest

    Hitting rough spots makes it so hard to persevere to the good times again. Just realized I haven't read it in weeks because of getting stuck. I think it's really cool how to characters are at times written very much like humans and makes you think of people's lives but at the same time the premises behind the characters are insane and silly. But also at times, the absurdity is really annoying and makes it feel pointless to read pages and pages of details on some character's outrageous quirks. Like right now I'm on the part where: It's just really silly and whatever commentary/meaning I'm supposed to get out of it seems also silly just because of how unrealistic it is. But at other times the silliness and detail is amusing, so, I guess I'll have to take both sides of it :-) -- Did anyone else notice that he uses DEFCON wrong during some part about Eschaton? He uses 5 as most severe instead of 1. Not sure if it's a mistake or purposeful for some reason? Also, did Pemulis's explanation of the calculus in the endnotes actually make sense?
  11. Accurate. They really are so different! Dota 2 is all about the complexity and HOTS just lets you go in, mash some abilities and kill stuff.
  12. Mobile Gaming Discussion !

    I thought I'd share a few of the games I've enjoyed recently or are favorites. If you're looking for a particular type of game, I could probably recommend something too! I like games that engage you in achieving something, so keep that in mind with my reviews. If you need to burn some time, all of these are pretty good, and my reviews can seem a bit critical haha. I also enjoy less arcade-style games that are more turn-based and have some kind of progress going on. (Will probably update once in a while with reviews.) Pokemon-like Games Pocket Mortys (Free) - From Rick & Morty! It's really cute and has some nice writing from the show's creators. Basically you can collect different kinds of Mortys, combine them to evolve them, and battle other NPC Mortys. Most of the gameplay is going through randomized dungeons, fighting in very simplified Pokemon-style. It's initially pretty fun, but gets repetitive after a while. In fact, it gets really tedious since the plot is pretty much just to beat even more of the randomized dungeons. There's not much nuance to the battle strategy or training Mortys, just hoping you get lucky to find some good ones. The art is interesting though, and the writing can be entertaining until you've seen all the NPC text. If anyone is just getting the game I have some good tips for starting off! Hopefully they add a lot more features, because it's quickly stale. But I definitely recommend this game! It'll burn at least a couple hours with the humor and discovering new things, and if you like catching them all and doing some mindless grinding after a while, you can enjoy this game for a long time. Neomon ($0.99) - The company that made this app, NTT Resonant, has a couple other Pokemon-style games that are pretty fun. They have some unique mechanics that are really well-optimized for mobile users, and a strong campaign mode to go through. This game in particular is absorbing long-term, with plenty of things to do like progress through the campaign or expend energy to go on side missions. Other than these side missions, you aren't limited with how much you can play. There's a good amount of strategy involved with the game, especially with its super unique battle mechanics. The battles actually become challenging and require you to re-order your team and think of interesting strategies. Cons of this game are that 99% of the monsters you encounter in the wild are seriously not worth catching, and the only monsters that are worth slots on your team are going to come from premium Golden Eggs. The good thing about this game though is that it provides plenty of opportunities to open many Golden Eggs from consistent checkpoints in the campaign. In the much later levels though, you'll be frustrated that your monsters can only be so good with the Golden Egg opportunities that you've had. It takes a while to get to that point though. Also my pet peeve, it has the Japanese app-style mechanics of "event" where you try to beat really hard dungeons and stuff to get materials to upgrade your monsters to be much better. To get to the highest-level play, you'll probably have to spend a ton of time on it or pay, but that's completely unnecessary to enjoy the game especially since there isn't even competitive PVP. Overall, really great take on the Pokemon style and time waster. Only wish is that it didn't have the whole premium thing going on. (Try Hunter Island and Dragon Island as well.) Puzzle Magic the Gathering: Puzzle Quest (Free) - I usually don't like match-three games but this one has genuine strategy to it! Despite matching-three being the main gameplay, it manages to incorporate deck-building, using hero abilities, and strategy to be pretty fun. The campaign mode just has you fighting more and more difficult NPC's, but it's more interesting with certain "goals" to replay the matches to get some premium currency. I've only played a little bit of Magic, but I'm super impressed with how they brought in the mechanics of Magic to this game. They have a rough PvP system that really just has you playing against the AI with random people's decks, but they'll be doing updates soon! Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer (Free?) - I had no idea what a deckbuilding game was before I found this, but holy cow is it fun strategy. It's based on an actual card game but I hadn't known that when I tried it a couple years ago. Basically you play matches starting out with a basic deck, which you add to and try to create synergy in your deck throughout the match. The game is all self-contained within matches, think like poker, so it's easy to just start up a quick game once in a while. There's PvP as well, which is really fun, though not sure how active it is since I've stopped playing. I'm guessing the people there are all really good haha. Premium content it buying expansions so that there are more cards to play with, which may be necessary once the basic cards get boring to play with. This is the type of premium content I enjoy, because it gives you something permanent, impacts your ability to be better than other players none whatsoever, and generally feels wholesome to purchase. This being a free game, I didn't mind paying for a couple cheap expansions to enjoy it more and support the dev. Definitely try this game if you like strategy in quick matches! And if you've never tried a deck-building game before, I would recommend checking it out! RPG The Quest Gold ($7.99) - I LOVE this game. I didn't even realize this kind of full-game experience existed on iOS! It's basically a turn-based Skyrim, to put it roughly. Insanely open-world, lots of options, quests, builds, exploring to do. Like many games $5+, it's legit full-length game with no other premium content. Only problem I had with it was that my screen is small and my eyes are bad, but it is pretty easy to use on mobile as a port from I think an old PC game. Seriously, if you're looking for an RPG, this is it. You can pick a class, level up, go on quests, explore the world, find items, fall into traps, etc. etc. I haven't really purchased similarly prices games, so I can't really compare it to others, but I'd love to hear recommendations for similar games. Attack the Light (Free?) - Super well-polished Steven Universe game. You have your party members and progress through the campaign's dungeons, with lots of unique monsters, new skills that you learn, and gorgeous art/animation. Miscellaneous Fun Games Welcome to the Dungeon (Free) - Hard to describe, but you are a dungeon master that collects monsters to put in dungeons to stop heroes from beating the dungeon. You try to collect stronger monsters so that when you click Play the heroes don't get through. Fun, casual game! Tiny Dice Dungeon (Free) - Collect monsters that have different abilities and damage based on the dice they have! Go through the campaign to find and collect monsters. Unique mechanics with rolling dice, yet not super RNG, and lots of fun. Can be very premium-heavy for good monsters and frustrating in an attempt to get you to buy stuff, but enjoyable for a while! The PvP is also pretty cool. Cute graphics too, and the dice mechanic really is interesting, especially if you like messing with statistics and going online to find the optimal dice combos for maximum damages. "Choice of" Games (Free/Paid) - I love these Choose-Your-Own Adventure games. I went on a binge a while ago to play a ton of them. I recommend Creatures Such as We, which kind of explores a deep theme but thinking back on it was a little odd and pretentious? Still, very interesting game + some romance for both genders. Choice of Romance has part one which is free and interesting enough, and I think the second part is paid. Despite its name, it's more about politics into the second part. Choice of the Dragon is amusing. You're a dragon that like plunders villages or finds a mate or battles wizards haha. Choice of Robots has you raising an AI robot with a really long story and fun things to read on intelligent robots and things. You can also have a romance with the robot? But you can also not haha. I have a bunch of others from Choice of Games downloaded but most of them are premium to get past the first part. Overall, the games have interesting writing that explores a bunch of different topics, though not always exactly what you'd expect. They all get a little deep on some theme or another. Vain Glory (Free) - Legit League of Legends/Lords Management on iOS. It's 3v3, with normal games, ranked with MMR, skins, guilds, parties, a chat function. Insanely polished, and I think it's been growing. Probably better to play on iPad, but I still play on my little screen sometimes. Graphics are amazing, but will probably eat up a ton of memory/battery.
  13. Hmm yeah I have to agree that Doesn't look like the third book will be coming out anytime soon still. He even taunts readers about it on his Twitter ):
  14. I Had a Random Thought (About Video Games)

    Movement in TF2 just feels good. It's smooth and you feel like you're getting somewhere. Not to mention rocket jumping & sticky jumping let you fly.
  15. Her Story

    Wow I'm really interested now; never heard of it before. Maybe once it goes on sale I'll check it out. Sounds like a pretty original concept.
  16. Expansions make it kind of hard for f2p to keep up Still working on my Naxx months later after a bit of a hiatus. The adventures, while pretty fun, are really only enjoyable for that one game or maybe two. Everyone knows it's really just for the cards. I'm super excited for Tavern Brawl. Not just for the game mode, but it means they're still adding new stuff and trying to keep Hearthstone alive and fun! Yippee!
  17. anime

    I've heard of that one, seems to fit what I'm looking for. I'll check it out~ I'd love suggestions anyway! What do you recommend?
  18. Custom deck-building is really hard, I agree. I found a couple friends who are pretty good at the game and gave me lots of useful tips on the game in general, which transfers well into deck-building. My custom mage deck had a lot of one minion summons another minion, and after some tsk-ing by a friend and practical application, I realized those were not the cards for my deck haha.
  19. The City and The City by China Mieville

    For some reason this thread title made me remember a book I'd read years ago called Un Lun Dun. Quick Google search and wow, same author. Never knew his name either, I think it was the title, "The City and The City" that had the same vibe to it. Anyway, my memory's fuzzy but I do remember incredible worldbuilding and messages about pollution and addiction and things in it. I rather enjoyed the creepy vibe to it. Thanks for this thread, I'll have to check out more of his stuff!
  20. Idle Sugar

    My favorites are Kit-Kats, Twix, and more recently, Snickers. Gotta have that crunch! Probably terrible for braces, however... Yay, toothpicks.
  21. anime

    I'm gonna be talking about both anime and manga here, and perhaps this perspective isn't very relatable to a lot of others on here, but god, it's hard to find a solid romance anime or manga! At least one that I like. I'm always on the lookout for characters where the female character isn't a ditz and the male character isn't a wimp. It's even harder to find one with the female viewer in mind. If anyone has any good recommendations, I'd be so happy. And I have a few recommendations and descriptions of miscellaneous manga which I'll just stick here since I don't see a recent manga thread, perhaps you'll find something you like: Tomodachi no Hanashi My favorite shoujo manga. It's super short and sweet at three chapters so far, but they're longer than your average chapter. The best-friendship is sweet, and the romance is rather simple. It's not strong for its plot, but its simple depiction of friendship with its simple but beautiful art style. Change Ge Xing Interesting for its strong and smart female lead. It's not one of those mangas where they seem to just slap a couple of smart/strong-willed characteristics on your typical anime girl, but her character shows through her actions and thoughts. This manga is mainly about politics and war in China where the Mongols are powerful. To be honest I got a little lost on following the politics that go on in the manga, but I enjoyed the story anyway. The main character crossdresses, but I'd say it's pretty believable as she acts as a young boy, and the artist doesn't cheat by drawing her completely differently as a boy and girl. Annarasumanara A manhwa, or Korean manga. It's read top to bottom in chapters. I mainly love this manhwa for its use of visuals. If you read a couple chapters you'll see what I mean, which I highly recommend you do. The artist isn't afraid to throw out whacky stuff that symbolizes things, or just plain looks cool visually. The story is very melancholy and bleak in the beginning and talks about a girl facing hardship in poverty and finding a man at a carnival who claims to know magic. The plot will not amaze you, but it is a good story. Liar Game This is a seinen, or male-adult-targeted, manga. If you're a fan of puzzles, card games, strategy, etc., this manga is going to be your cup of tea. A genius hacker and an extremely honest girl get involved in a mysterious "Liar Game" that has them risking lots of money and people's livelihoods. The guy is the main character, and he's rather emotionless and analytical. The girl is intentionally naive and weak. It's kind of strange at times when they make her have little moments of genius, but this isn't often. The main focus is on the puzzles they go through however, and there are a couple hundred chapters to wade through. Otoyomegatiari is about a tribe's nomadic life in the Silk Road era. Its main characters are a young woman married to a twelve year-old boy, but the best part is the depiction of this nomadic life. Not a setting you see often in anime or manga! It's an award-winning work and has a unique art style; it's almost worth reading just to see the awesome cloth patterns and jewelry!
  22. Gifts - Stuff for Free

    Dead Island: Epidemic Beta x4
  23. The Dancing Thumb (aka: music recommendations)

    very chill. is chill the right word?
  24. Terraria

    The thing about Terraria is that it's like a Do-It-Yourself campaign; you make progress toward upgrading your stuff and adventuring to new areas. In multiplayer this can be a little frustrating because your friends can get far ahead of you, shooting lasers and wearing a bunch of super cool equipment while you're still a good few tiers behind... and now they're off to fight stuff you can't really handle for lack of hearts and equipment.
  25. Let's Draw Video Games

    Oh my gosh haha. You know what you should so? Straight up learn Mandarin and post in Mandarin. That way your pronouns are gender-neutral and language is consistent throughout the post.