u/VettelFan17

This is a couple of days ago that I finished it, but around the start of May I played a Metroid game for the first time - I was always a bit worried I wouldn't do well with Metroidvanias as I'm terrible at remembering where I've been. I struggled hard at first and I admit I fully used a map online after I realised you had to bomb *very* specific blocks (when getting the ice beam), as well as plenty of save states. But I started to get the hang of it - the wave beam and the screw attack really helped - and I had a ton of fun by the end. Mother Brain fight was rough but very satisfying to get it (I was surprised, thought I'd have to restart again).

I'm onto the GB game (Samus Returns) now (and been playing Zero Mission as well occasionally since I understand its a direct remake of the NES game?) and wanted to check two things:

1 - at what point are the games playable without searching up maps? I know this is *very* subjective and of course the kids who grew up with it just raw dogged the games, but I mean at what point are the games doable without trial and error (I.e. shooting every block in the game randomly)? Like for Samus Returns I'm using a map because the spider ball opens up so so much possibilities but while I'm stuck in Zero Mission (yes I know, I'm dumb), I feel like I can genuinely figure that out.

2 - I heard 2D and 3D Metroid is almost entirely separate, can I play the Prime games alongside the 2D ones then? Or would ye recommend I finish up to Fusion before tackling Prime?

BTW, got the 3-5 hours ending which I was surprised by - although, as mentioned, a LOT of save states and using online maps so take with a pinch of salt. But getting an ending that does at least reveal Samus' identity is something I'll take :P

Took a looooong time as I tried my best to avoid using any outside help. I did end up using *a bit* (e.g. I thought I'd covered everywhere in Palma so I looked at a map to piece it all together... that's how I found out where to get the gas shield) but majority was covered by me, with badly drawn maps and my notes with all the info I got from NPCs, so I'm rather chuffed with myself :P.

I do need to completely some other RPGs properly but this is definitely the best 8-bit game I've played so far. There's a few obscure bits but aside from the soft ice on Dezoris, there was noticeable little 8-bit jank. Really felt like the game rewards you for properly listening to everyone and it was so satisfying to see all the notes on the different required items come together to see the dark castle appear over Baya Malay with the music change.

Visually the game was amazing, loved the sci-fi setting, felt really varied across the 3 different planets. What lacked in gameplay in battles (which, tbf, I find is just a general symptom of games in that era) was made up with general exploration I felt. Part of me wishes there was a modern remaster to flesh out the story because it would be cool to see characters like Alis and Odin have full character arcs but in the context of a late 80's game, I was really impressed by this.

Gonna get started on Phantasy Star 2 soon, plan is to go all the way to 4 (which I know is generally considered the best, so simultaneously excited and agonised that I still need to go through 2 and 3 to get there). My only complaint is there's not much to explore again in the game (the only item I missed was the magic key since I vibed through Baya Malay) but I suppose the assortment of fan art and writing will have to do for my post game indulging :P

Edit: okay, forgot to mention, I should admit I used a lot of save states (not too fussed about that, since saving was available everywhere in game so I was just saving a little time) and A LOT of speed up (will admit that was moreso cheating - goodness the encounter rate could be awful)

Finished the book just now - this isn't going to be structured well but I just have to talk to someone about this book.

Utterly loved it. I was always going to be biased because of the main character dynamics but it's easily among my favourite love stories. Just... ugh. The first person narration worked so well here, e.g. reading about Owen's guilt making him pull away from giving himself to Ulla early on. I'm being sappy here but it was so gratifying when they open themselves to each other during her third death, only for it to be shattered and then finally the ending. Gonna save that quote "who is free, who loves another?" somewhere.

Moving away from being lovey dovey, I really enjoyed how it shows history being documented and fictionised for - the fact that Owen essentially includes basically *nothing* that Ulla tells him during his first draft is something I caught onto way too late.

Time travel is something I've been experiencing a lot in fiction recently (purely accidental) so that went down well with me, although I struggled to fully understand the mechanics here: so when someone like Owen goes back, he doesn't necessarily "return" to his time but his life then unfolds in the new future created from his actions? I follow that but my understanding breaks down when it comes to Vivian, especially since she's from before all of this happening. Would be interested to hear other viewpoints.

On that note though, that's what really sold me on Vivian as a villain. The fact she's basically putting so many people through a loop again and again is rather horrifying (that line about sending Ulla back in pieces after the first battle with Ancel was stuck to my mind for a while). I will say, I found her additional backstory at the end a bit rushed and tacked on too late to make an impact on me but overall I did find her more compelling than other people seemed to based on some reviews I read.

Other thing that stood out to me was the relationship between Owen and his father. All my favourite fictional media seems to have father/son issues for some reason, but I particularly loved Owen's attitude to his "treason" changing as he journeys with Ulla. The way his father found him very much reminded me of a similar storyline in a game (>!Metal Gear Solid!<).

I feel like there's more and this is all messy but as I said, just really wanted to talk about this with someone. I realise perhaps my perception is skewed as this is probably the first time I've read a heavily romance based book but it felt really beautifully written at times and it's going to stick with me for a while.

Got some great recommendations last time I posted here about engineering fiction. I finished Airframe by Michael Creighton today.

&gt;! Overall the book was good - I didn't like some characterisation but I recognise they were apt for the time + setting. The level of detail was fantastic, my engineering knowledge is at the level where I can follow properly but still learned plenty of new details especially on the electronics side. !<

&gt;! I thought the build up, mystery and slow unveiling of details was brilliant. I'm on the fence on whether the resolution of "the pilot let his son fly" feels like a cop out, but I suppose it's fair since a) links to human error being a major factor in accidents and b) something I should have caught earlier with the crew list (tbf, I did notice the ​AUX error before Casey but I didn't realise the implications). !<

I've got a couple of other books coming in from the library on reservation soon based off recommendations on my previous post (Shards of Honor comes in tomorrow, should get Anathem and The Fountains of Paradise soon. Not exactly SF, but also have The Everlasting coming tomorrow). Have plenty to keep me going from that list but wanted to just check if anyone has recs for these topics:

A) Any sort of motorsport fiction, something with the level of detail of Airframe? Realise this is a super niche topic but I'd eat that up like ice cream.

B) Different topic altogether, but any Sci-Fi stories featuring Muslim protagonists/characters? I read Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor a while back and while I didn't enjoy it overall (very subjective, mind), I liked reading a story more grounded in my religion's culture.

Anyways, in the meantime, the Vorkosigan Saga is - fingers crossed - what I'm hoping to tackle going forward.

Device: Retroid Pocket Flip 2. Game files from GOG. Version 0.9.1 prerelease (as 0.9.0 wasn't allowing games to be downloaded from GOG).

Everything else in the menus/start of KOTOR 1 runs fine and during cutscenes in KOTOR 1, sound is audible. However the screen is completely blank (I can still click to skip them). For KOTOR 2 I used the recommended configuration, KOTOR 1 has some changes made as sound wasn't working initially but the only graphics related change was swapping resolution to 800x600 (which is the native resolution of the game). Any suggestions?

Not sure if this is exactly a "genre" but are there any particularly good Sci-Fi books that have a strong engineering aspect to them? I've thrown in Military Sci-Fi as well since the style of writing during a well written space battle is sort of what I have in mind (thinking like some of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books, except looking for something not tied to a franchise). Bonus if it has a diverse cast.