u/arcanehelix

As per title.

Emulator and front-ends...duh, everyone knows them.

But what are some other useful apps?

1. Maybe an app dedicated to gaming guides for older 3DS / retro games that you can display on bottom?

2. PDDF or Notes app that can make use of the bottom screen for note-taking?

3. Comic book or manga reader app?

4. Maybe some kinda checklist / game journal app where you can detail your exploration or goals in a game?

5. An app that allows you to write with finger / stylus on the bottom screen to "type" instead of keyboard?

I hate Summer...in Europe...its too hot...

Need air-conditioned place...to study / chill with iced coffee...

Melting...

As per title.

So, student here, never worked a job here as my Master's is quite demanding, meaning I have in theory, no income to declare or taxes to pay.

Is it safe for me to just ignore the tax mail, or do I have to spend time looking up how taxes in Belgium work, what are deductibles etc.

Usually I would put in the effort out of respect but my exams are just round the corner and I don't wanna stress myself out...

(1) As per title. What are some exclusive Samsung software that makes Samsung so good?

I have the current Fold 5, but the only software I use daily that is exclusive to Samsung, as a Master's student, is the Notes. And even then, only because the Notes has S-pen support.

BUT. S-pen support stopped from 6 onwards I believe, so that's a major hit to Samsung's advantage and I don't see why I shouldn't consider alternative brands?

Samsung used to be the pioneer of Foldables, but we now see competition from other brands that make better screen ratios + creaseless + battery + better price for quality.

(2) Most phones use Android and I honestly can't the difference between Samsung Android vs Android on a random competitor.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any other Samsung devices like laptops, so the "ecosystem" argument won't work here...

Here's my review of Pisces.

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First, an objective standard of where I'd rank Dreamstone Mysteries based on the ROMhacks I've completed:

1. Odyssesy
2. Unbound
3. Marioland
4. Pisces
5. Dreamstone Mysteries
6. Radical Red
7. Rocket Edition
8. Emerald Seaglass

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1.Quick Overview

Pisces has a great Fakedex, and true to its promise, presents a future-version of Hoenn that has changed drastically, while remaining recognizable at its core.

Some design changes to characters are puzzling, almost akin to character assassination, so its best played with a headcannon that this is an alternate Hoenn...maybe our main character entered one of 'em Hoopa wormhole and ended up in a future, alternate Hoenn where Flannery is a Yakuza co-boss, and Roxanne is both professor and the gang leader of the hooligans at her University.

Game starts challenging but drops in difficulty as you unlock more options and movepools. Story is forgettable, pales in urgency to the original Emerald where Groudon and Kyogre are world-ending threats, so just treat it as an alternate setting where your "main character" (actually the former side-character to the true main character of May / Brandon) decides to give research a pause and a go at competitive Pokemon battling.

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2.Greatest Strengths:

Fakedex & TeamBuilding Options & Cool Abilities

Not only are the Fakedex designs awesome and cool to look at, but their Pokedex entries were also really interesting to look at. It captured the same sense of childhood joy when every encounter was new, and you couldn't wait to read up on Pokedex entries.

Some of the entries are really interesting, and because its a fangame without Nintendo's PG restrictions, some entries really push design space lore-wise...like a cat-like 'mon that looks seemingly normal but has various hints from NPCs and ingame texts that it is actually some kind of eldritch entity on par with Cthulu, with access to a suspicious signature held-item that boosts Dark, Ghost, Psychic moves despite the 'Mon being Normal. Or even a 'Mon that seems suspiciously based off the demon Beelzebub, with a ton of its stats being 66 or 99 etc.

Almost all of the custom 'Mon are also viable, and lend themselves to various strats, from weather to trickroom to terrain teams.

Abilities are also scaled up and encourage playstyles you normally wouldn't consider, like 'Mons that set-up (short) Trick Room turns upon entry.

Map Design & World Building

Pisces stays true to the original Emerald layout, all the old towns and routes are still present and immediately recognizable. But they have also been drastically altered in ways that suit their official lore - i.e. Mauvile has grown to a true metropolis due to its casino, and have begun to merge with Slateport, while nature-based Verdanturf town has now become a gated community meant to be a peaceful alternative to New Mauvile.

You get a sense that Pisces is truely Hoenn set in an alternative, distant future, and the towns all have great custom artworks. Your starting town of Pacific Log for instance, has drifted to anchor near Sky Pillar, and beautiful corals have grown to surround Pacific Log, which has also grown in size.

You also explore backwards, from Pacific Log to Sootopolis to Mossdeep, before ending up in Littleroot. So its a very nice change of pace that its not another boring hike that starts from Littleroot...

Challenging Gym Puzzles

Great mini-games and puzzles for most of the Gyms. They're not simple things a child could solve, adult-me did find myself racking my brains at times.

Double Battles, New held-items, Updated Moves, New Moves

The focus on double battles + new held-items really encourages to explore play-styles you usually wouldn't explore in "vanilla" rom hacks that focus on single battles. For the first time, I had a dedicated Trick Room team.

Vanilla moves also now come with slight bonuses or updates; Drill Run for instance, is now a viable alternative to Earthquake as it has the added bonus of making defense stat boosts irrelevant.

New moves also expand your gameplay option, such as a version of Foul Play for Psychics that rely on opponent's Sp Attk for damage...

OKAY-ish difficulty

The starting 1-3 Gyms can be a little daunting for those not new to competitive battling, but its doable. I would say Unbound levels of difficulty.

But as your teambuilding options expand, and as you min-max more with move tutors or held items or EV distributions, the game becomes much more easier.

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3. Greatest Weakness

INFORMATION OVERLOAD - New Typings, New Type Chart, New Held-items, New Status, New passives...BUT ZERO OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION

The greatest flaw that has turned many players off IMO. Pisces introduces a new type, Relic, and it takes some adjusting to remember its match-ups.

To make matters worse, the type chart has also changed, from Fairy no longer being immune to Dragon, and Steel no longer resisting certain types, to Ice gaining new defenses etc. When you have just finished another Rom with updated type-charts like Odyssesy, it really messes with your brain.

The devs also didn't implement type symbols in the in-game battle, so key battles are often lost when you spend your first few trials simply figuring out the opponent's typing.

The new held items are an even greater shocker; some items are signature items meant to encourage use of PRE-EVOLUTIONS by granting i.e. "boosts to the Sp Attk". Turns out this "boosts" can be as high as 3X !!! But nowhere in the game is this enormous stat boost hinted at.

There's also a couple of new status introduced, from Panic to Blooming, and the game also doesn't explicitly tell you what these status do. Panic is like a mix of Burn / Frostbite without damage etc.

Character Assassination that doesn't make sense

Some characters had their arcs expanded further in a way that makes sense, such as Phoebe of the Elite Four now running her own Ghost Gym, or Sidney the Dark E4 member being a casino owner with Pikequeen Lucy as his girlfriend...or even Archie / Maxie redeeming themselves and working for an environmental institute. These were sweet and touching to see, and gives you some closure to your childhood curiosity of how these characters would have changed over the years.

But others simply do not make sense. Like Flannery and her dad being Yakuza-type bosses; with explicit threats from their goons to break your fingers etc. Or Watson suddenly becoming greedy capitalist pig who wants to take over Slateport.

Or Steven, the former Steel champion, inexplicably being the owner of some kind of spookhouse pseudo-Gym that specializes in Dark / Ghost types....

Forgettable Story & Tedious Gauntlets

Pisces also likes to throw tedious gauntlets at you in-between PokeCentres. This is one of the few games you will blow your dollars stocking up on Revives and Potions and PP restoration.

Half-way through the game...I forgot why the box legenderies were even fighting. The devs must also have gotten lazy towards the end when it came to NPC characterization, because the Pokecentres suddenly become devoid of NPCs who usually give witty remarks or humorous jokes.

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Conclusion

Though marketed as a future Hoenn game, the story is much more enjoyable in terms of lore if you simply have a head-cannon that you were a former side-character that somehow fell through a Hoopa wormhole from vanilla Hoenn and ended up in a future, alternate Hoenn. The big threat has long been solved, you're just going through your own character arc by tying up loose ends as you decide to switch from being a researcher to a battler who proves his worth slowly gym by gym. In this alternate dimension, similarities to vanilla Hoenn are still present, despite some odd changes for some characters. It also explains why a certain character from vanilla Hoenn has a grudge against you, and why the true "main character" only shows up towards the finale for one single, speechless battle against you...

Battle-wise, definitely rather addictive due to all the customization in team building and new strategies available, alongside the focus on Double Battles.

'Mon-wise, perhaps the best ever! Slightly better than Odyssesy.

Soooo been eyeing the Anbernic Rotate.

Does anyone have both the Retroid Pocket Classic and the Rotate?

Would love to see how integer-scaled GBA looks on both device. Thanks :)

Let's say you add Skyrim to Steam via a magical pie-loving rat.

Then you install a buncha mods not found on the official Steam workshop.

You test it on your PC, it runs smoothly, with a slight increase in performance.

When you then download Skyrim on your Android / Thor via GameNative, will the mods carry over and will the game run successfully?

This is the age of emulation, lets say I can emulate all kinda consoles.

What systems ever had a DM game that contained cards from DM01 to DM12? Any language, including jap-exclusive titles can do.

Just wondering. Is there a reason why this isn't more common?

Never made such a huge trip before, but is it feasible to take i.e. a train at 9am from Leuven / Brussels to Paris for a day-trip, and then be back in Leuven at night? The time it takes for Leuven / Brussels to Paris (2 hr) is the same it takes to travel from Leuven to Dinant (which I have done before).

My interests are architecture / musuems.

Would love to hear the experience of ppl who did so. Would you also just recommend staying in Paris for the weekend apart from making it a day-trip?

As per title.

Any good cafes where it opens till like 8pm or later? Its summer now, the Sun doesn't set early.

Would love to study there!

Bonus if they have great coffee and not those instant coffee generic brands...

1. What is a 1:1 ratio good for? The RPC also has a 1:1, but its 3'9 screen is larger and so GBA can fit. 3'5 1:1...i'm not sure what can be played on it.

2. Can the chipset support shaders for GBA or Arcade systems?

3. Why does the 2000mAV battery only lasts 5-6 hours? My RPC has 5000mAV, but it lasts DAYS. With shaders.

As per title.

Europeans, any experience on how long AYN ships? I heard horror stories of shipping taking up to 6 months.

I got my RPC in 3 weeks with express shipping lol. But AYN doesn't seem to offer express shipping...?

I need it to arrive by July latest as I am moving to a different country by September...

Fans who have read the comics from start to finish, especially BRPD.

Anyone feels like they got hit in the gut after reflecting and processing the full storyline?

Hellboy as a franchise started off on a rather optimistic note, with your typical comicbook "happy ending" - Occult Nazis defeated, ghosts and demons clearly beaten. Typical superhero stuff, and the events all felt colorful and childish, with characters like Lobster Johnson etc.

Then as the franchise and series matured, losses and wins became blurred...the friends Hellboy made along the way, most went through their own character arcs, from being a cannibalistic tiger, to being possessed by vampires, to having identity crises...and just like real-life, the comics stopped giving clear "happy endings"; it was common for these character arcs to just remain unresolved. You had a feeling that most of them were coping with their own internal struggles.

Then there were plotlines like the threat of a vampire uprising, the resurgence of Occult Nazis etc...but towards the end, during the BRPD arc when the Apocalypse did happen...

Man, it felt like all the early events of the Hellboy franchise didn't mattered in the grand scheme of things. The Apocalypse DID happen. Earth was reset. Humanity almost wiped out. Most of Hellboy's friend simply died, there was no plot armor.

All the little early stories, from exorcisms, to stopping vampires, to banishing demons or helping cursed people, to Hellboy's own romantic heartbreak or wrestling fiasco in Mexico...it amounted to NOTHING in the grand scheme of things. They lost, plain and short.

Its like looking back on your life and realizing nothing mattered in the grand scheme of things just a nuclear bomb drops on you.

P.S. The ending is akin to Sopranos or even Joker 2. It felt out of character, and a bit of a bail out.