Recent Posts

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General Chat / Re: In the dreamtime

« Last post by ThePerm on Today at 04:53:48 AM »

I had a blast reading about my old dreams, many of which I don't remember. Many of you had some great dreams too. I really haven't had a weird dream in a while. But I also don't take nyquil every night like I did in the early 2010s.

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General Gaming / Re: 6th Annual NWR Four on Four

« Last post by broodwars on Today at 02:08:38 AM »

OK, finally had my 1st 2 successful runs through the Rogue Prince of Persia, as well as moved the story forward by rescuing my next family member.

Wow, that final boss was surprisingly easy, even as a 2-phase fight.

You unlock permanent items that make the game harder if you wish to use them (with the trade-off being that you acquire more upgrade currency), but I don't think I'll ever use them. I never see the point in these masochist challenge Debuffs in Roguelikes. TMNT: Splintered Fate has these, too, and they only made the game way less enjoyable.

Gonna stick with this game through at least the end of the story, which requires at least 1 more story quest completed first.

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General Gaming / Re: 6th Annual NWR Four on Four

« Last post by broodwars on Yesterday at 07:16:21 PM »

Onto greener pastures. I know this goes against the 4 on 4 code, but I decided to go back to Oceanhorn 2 while I wait for Pragmata to drop. Of all the 3D Zelda-a-likes that have ever 3D Zelda-a-liked, this one is definitely the most.

I am also awaiting Pragmata, as well as Saros to close out the month.

Thankfully, new releases get way less interesting after April.

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General Gaming / Re: 6th Annual NWR Four on Four

« Last post by Evan_B on Yesterday at 10:51:32 AM »

Man, I wanted to like Haste. The numerous crashes in the latter half of the game have been really killing my vibe, though. Mind you, I was able to stomach the massive framerate dips, which occur even on Switch 2, if only because I thought the core gameplay concept was nice enough. I am regrettably adding this one to my spreadsheet as a DNF, though it starting losing steam before the bugs popped up. There’s just not enough variety in world design or the roguelike item pool to feel that runs are varied or fairly balanced. You either get items that might be helpful if you can survive, or you get health items that vastly increase your survival and can be further exploited via all those other highly circumstantial items way more useful. It’s synergy-based, but anything outside of gaining health is also incredibly risky because they mostly increase your running speed, which means you can run into (and lose health from) obstacles even faster. It doesn’t help that the games narrative is trickled out through dialogue sequences at campfire/healing zones that are long, plodding, and nauseatingly whimsical. I had higher hopes for this game, especially because of the developer’s pedigree.

Onto greener pastures. I know this goes against the 4 on 4 code, but I decided to go back to Oceanhorn 2 while I wait for Pragmata to drop. Of all the 3D Zelda-a-likes that have ever 3D Zelda-a-liked, this one is definitely the most.

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General Gaming / Re: 6th Annual NWR Four on Four

« Last post by broodwars on April 14, 2026, 10:57:30 PM »

Well, it's time now for one of the games I had always planned on playing this month, because I've been putting a fair amount of time into the Rogue Prince of Persia (PS5) now that it's out on physical media.

This game is made by the Dead Cells team, the same team making the upcoming Castlevania: Belmont's Revenge, and it is excellent. Dead Cells is one of the few Roguelikes I've ever enjoyed, as character movement is extremely snappy and progression just has a sublime flow to it. I'm happy to say that Prince of Persia made the transition over to the Dead Cells format excellently, with an added emphasis on wall running and wall climbing that wasn't really a thing in Dead Cells. People praised that Lost Crown Metroid PoP game a few years ago (and if the game hadn't bugged out on me I'd agree with the praise), but THIS just nails the speed and ease of the Prince of Persia traversal flow in a way that game just didn't.

If there's a wall in front of you or a wall in your immediate background, you can climb it for a few seconds with the press of a shoulder button, just like the Sands of Time trilogy.

In terms of design, you can tell the devs learned a lot from Hades, as there's a fair amount of story in here and it's broken up in an interesting way. While you can try to soldier through an arcade ladder-esque string of biomes to face the final boss, if you take the time to explore you'll find NPCs and little clues scattered around that point you to quests spanning the various locations, as well as clues alerting you to the existence of new locations (which adds them to future runs). Across your runs, if you string these investigations correctly, you'll unlock a major NPC and story content back in your home base. It's an interesting idea, and does some serious heavy lifting keeping new runs feeling fresh by giving the player something to work towards besides a successful run.

I don't love the combat, which basically is just Dead Cells with a fancier dodge. In a strange way, though, that feels kind of...fitting...for a Prince of Persia game. I can probably name only 1-2 games in the entire franchise where the combat was particularly amazing.

Overall, so far I'm quite enjoying this, despite not being particularly good at it. I still haven't managed to survive more than about halfway through a run.

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TalkBack / Re: Mario Galaxy Movie Has Nice Second Weekend, Takes In US$69m

« Last post by broodwars on April 14, 2026, 04:59:50 PM »

I think economic conditions are also affecting these results. While it may not match the earnings from the first film it should be plenty profitable.

Well, that and people online aren't treating this movie with kid gloves like they did the first (mediocre) Illumination Mario movie. This is generally considered worse than the last movie, and far more blatant a commercial.

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TalkBack / Re: Mario Galaxy Movie Has Nice Second Weekend, Takes In US$69m

« Last post by M.K.Ultra on April 14, 2026, 03:33:44 PM »

I think economic conditions are also affecting these results. While it may not match the earnings from the first film it should be plenty profitable.

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General Gaming / Re: 6th Annual NWR Four on Four

« Last post by M.K.Ultra on April 14, 2026, 03:31:19 PM »

Over the weekend I played Alien Crush on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini. A well known PC Engine exclusive, the game applies a sci-fi theme to pinball gameplay.  Controls here are quite simple with the d-pad and face buttons used as to control the flippers. The game has two speeds but I found the default fast setting to be manageable. As with real pinball machines, the level is too tall to fit on the screen so only half is shown at a time, but when the ball moves between halves the change in the screen is a little jarring. Otherwise the sound and graphics are a positive. I think I saw all of the bonus rooms and my high score was 4,749,000. Apparently there is an end screen when you hit 999,999,900 points which takes about 20-40 hours. If you have the mini console this is worth playing for a bit.

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General Chat / Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe

« Last post by Khushrenada on April 14, 2026, 01:55:54 AM »

Yep. Surprised they made it also. I thought it might be Columbus that would be the first round opponent for the Pens and was kind of hoping it would be since Pens have a good history of beating them in the playoffs and Blue Jackets don't have a history of taking cheap shots in playoff games. But losing 8 out of their last 10 games took them out of the picture and opened the door for Flyers. Same with Islanders suddenly falling apart near the end. They fired Roy for DeBeor so late in the season but that didn't stop the skid. Wild stuff in the NHL. Still, this is a different Flyers team than some past ones and Rick Tocchet spent some time helping coach in Pittsburgh so maybe it will be more respectful competition.

Meanwhile, the Ducks may have let their opportunity of winning their division slip through their fingers. I'd been joking early at the start of the season that the Ducks will make the playoffs and shock everyone by knocking out the Oilers in the first round but I was thinking the Oilers would be first in the division and the Ducks 4th. It's looking quite likely that the Oilers and Ducks will actually be meeting in the first round after all but I'm not so sure about them knocking out the Oilers. Oilers are looking weaker this year as goaltending continues to be an issue for them and Draisaitl injured. But Ducks are sort of collapsing and to end the season having lost 7 of their last 8 games. Not great momentum to be having going into the playoffs. Guess we'll see how the last two games go but losing to the lowly Vancouver Canucks does not inspire confidence. Honestly would have preferred to see Kings/Ducks and Knights/Oilers in the first round with 2015 No. 2 pick Eichel facing off against the No. 1 pick McDavid while the Kings/Ducks would finally get their second playoff match-up after their first one about 10 years ago. At least Cutter Gauthier is back. Can't mention the Ducks without bringing up that Philly reference.

Still, it has been an odd year in the NHL. Back-to-back champs of the Panthers not making the playoffs. Other recent regulars like the Winnipeg Jets, the Maple Leafs, and Rangers all out. Sabres, Mammoth, Ducks, and even Penguins and Flyers making it this year is a bit of a surprise. If Detroit and Blue Jackets could have found a way in as it seemed like they might for awhile there in the middle of the season then it really could have added to the unexpected shifting of fortunes it seems like the league was having this year. I curious to see how big of a factor experience might be for the playoffs this year. Kind of feels like Colorado, Tampa Bay, Carolina and Edmonton would be the favorites in each of those divisions if you are weighing it that way.

With Corey Perry playing for the Kings, we know who will be the Stanley Cup runner-up so it would seem the winner will be from the East. Will Buffalo shock everyone by winning their first cup and Lindy Ruff finally gets the job done after all these years? Overall, most teams in the league feel incomplete and have question marks about whether they could go all the way and it really feels like it should be the Avalanche winning it. Except Avalanche are in probably the best division right now and the first two round could be tougher than the Conference and Cup final depending on if they play Mammoth or Kings first and who comes out of the East.

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General Chat / Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe

« Last post by NWR_insanolord on April 13, 2026, 09:59:02 PM »

Woo! I don't know how they did it, they looked dead and buried like a month ago, but the Flyers clinched a playoff spot with a game to spare! They've been one of the hottest teams since the Olympic break and now they're up against their old rivals, Khush's Penguins, in the first round!