u/Holiday-Phrase-1687

Just curious, since I remember you could fight them early and get better gear early on. At least in the old PS1 version.

I'm looking for a good metroidvania to spend some time with, one without feeling like Dark Souls. By that I mean a few things.

I first mean design wise. I want something a little more upbeat, not ruins, collapse and sadness.

I second mean difficulty wise. I don't mind difficulty, but metroidvanias are more about the exploration and character development than the challenge for me. It's not the sort of game I want to play when I want a challenge.

I third mean mechanics obviously borrowed from Souls game. Things like potions that are suspiciously similar to Estus Flasks in execution, bonfire respawns, things like that. Any game element you'd see and you'd go oh, that's inspired by Dark Souls.

Edit: I've played the classic Castlevania games that fall under this as well as Bloodstained. I'm fairly open otherwise.

I got some paperwork today that I'm due for a review to see if I should continue to get benefits. I understand this is routine and it's part of the process, but what should I expect for this? They sent me some forms to fill out. Any advice or tips to best manage the process? This is the first time I've had to do this, so I'm not sure how the process will be.

I got some paperwork today that I'm due for a review to see if I should continue to get benefits. I understand this is routine and it's part of the process, but what should I expect for this? They sent me some forms to fill out. Any advice or tips to best manage the process? This is the first time I've had to do this, so I'm not sure how the process will be.

I swim an hour first thing in the morning, and it leaves me exhausted all day. I don't push myself that hard, just a steady pace that doesn't wind me at all in the pool. However, I find myself bone weary and foggy all day afterwards. I've done this for a few years and it hasn't gotten better in spite of me getting in better shape from it.

Is this normal? Should I expect every day I swim to be worthless for much of anything that requires energy or focus? I feel fine in the pool, but within about an hour my energy level crashes out. Naps help, but only so much, and I can sleep 12-13 hours a day on swim days.

I prefer games with a female MC. What are the best games that have them? I've already played Trails in the Sky 1-3 for Estelle. She's great but I've already played that one, along with the original Valkyrie Profile and Lenneth Valkyrie. What I really want is female characters treated seriously and properly fleshed out, not reduced to gimmicks or two note characters (and you can guess what those two notes are.)

I'd prefer games on Steam but I'm flexible if it's worthwhile.

I write in a decently large fandom and put out good stories. I know I can't be objective about my own writing, but I think it's better than 90%+ of what's out there. Yet despite all my work, I struggle to get any responses at all. I've seen objectively mid and weak stories get a lot more engagement than mine, and I don't get why.

What's the trick for getting people to care?

So as background, I was in high school when Daria aired. I resonated with Daria so much that some of my friends joked I was just like her. The entire show captured the feel of my high school years so, so, so well and I loved it.

Fast forward to 2026. I'm far from the teenager I was back then. I haven't seen Daria since it concluded. As much as I loved the show, at the end I felt I was aging out of it. I've never had the urge to rewatch it in spite of loving it so much when it first aired. I've begun to feel tempted lately, but not everything from those years holds up. I'm worried that I'll look back on it and I'll realize it wasn't as good as I thought it was.

For those who have rewatched Daria in the last few years, how does it hold up? Is it worth rewatching, or should I keep it to my memories and nostalgia? Daria's a small but precious part of my past, one I'm a little worried I might lose if I look at it too closely. In some small way I still want to be Daria, even though I'm nowhere near the person I was back then.

Any opinions?

I'm moving out of one church to another, and one reason why is because that church is quite conservative on trans issues. I'm not, and over time it had contributed to my desire to change churches. In particular, I can't see transgender treatment as a bad thing after reading up on it and seeing how much it helps people with gender dysphoria. Sure, I think most of the anti-trans Scriptural arguments are paper thin or verses twisted out of context, but what truly moved my heart is seeing trans healthcare help people and change lives.

For those who believe trans/transgender treatment is a sin, how do you square that against the body of medical evidence that says it is important healthcare? Fundamentally, I can't see the approach of denying people healthcare and leaving them to suffer to be good fruit. All it reminds me of is the Pharisees.

(I'm not trying to be inflammatory with that, and if I offended, I apologize.)

At the heart of it, I can't reconcile the message of hope and salvation with seeing someone's suffering and saying no, this is your cross to bear, we shall deny you help for it. Any insight on how you reconcile this with your faith is welcomed.

Note: If your response is to try and say this or that study says otherwise about trans healthcare? I'm not going to say you can't say that, but I am going to say I'm not going to agree and largely dismiss what you said. I've done my own research on it and found those studies and arguments sorely lacking. If that's your position, then it's your position, but I'm likely not going to find it persuasive or edifying in the least.

I'm looking for a new browser that isn't Chrome. What's the differences between water and fire fox? I know watefox is a fork of firefox, but the rest goes over my head.

For various reasons I'm looking to move from the Southern Baptist church I'm in. I've been watching Episcopal services lately and they've been nice so far. I think I like the pace and style of them more than the evangelical flavor I'm used to. However, this is only a shallow impression.

For anyone who's moved into the Episcopal church from Southern Baptist or any similar denominations, do you have any advice? How do things vary between the two denominations? What sort of culture shocks should I expect?

I'm a Christian, but I'm not a social person. There's some mental issues and trauma involved I don't want to go into, and overall I don't like being around people. I hear people talk about fellowship and being with fellow Christians, but at best it does nothing at for me. More often, I'm unhappy, depressed, miserable and stressed out for days afterwards.

I've tried to ignore that and force it before, but I pay for it every time. It's not a good suffering, but one that hurts my faith and requires a lot of time to recover from. It doesn't help that a particular type of person (bald, bearded men) trigger trauma reactions from me as well, a certain sort of look that's not uncommon in leadership positions of churches I've been in.

What should I do? I watch online services, but even those can be difficult sometimes. Most people I talk to don't really get it, particularly the sort who happily go to church every week.

(I posted this on another subreddit a few days ago, but I wouldn't mind some additional opinions.)