u/ashmaht

I just rolled credits on Hell is Us a few hours ago, and it was so much better than I'd expected... but the ending felt a little anticlimactic and didn't answer a lot of the questions I had. I'm wondering if I missed some lore documents or the game is intentionally ambiguous?

First, what is the Eye of God? It was my understanding (before reading Tania's article) that the cycle of violence would repeat every 33 years unless the Week of Peace was observed (no bloodshed, no time loops). But after reading the article, it turned out that the time loops were a result of using the Eye of God to try and stop a civil war. So... what the hell is the Eye of God??

I know this is going to sound insane, but have any of you noticed way more spiders around lately?

Naturally, I understand that there might be a few more than usual given our weather this summer (puddles mean more mosquitoes), but this seems like more than that.

I’ve seen a bunch of spiders in my apartment (various kinds, including a jumping spider that respects my boundaries and an assortment of dumbass cobweb spiders who keep getting stuck in my bathtub because god wants to test me first thing in the morning), but I’ve also seen them in the library, the grocery store, a couple of restaurants, and even an unusually high amount in a friend’s house in Montclair.

They’re just… everywhere.

Am I the only one noticing this, or are they just targeting me specifically?

I love ATLA and I was in the mood to dive into the world again. I know most ATLA games are... shit. But most people seemed to agree that The Burning Earth was the best of the shit pile. Granted, half of those positive reviews were from people who were thrilled about the 1000 gamerscore you can get from just playing the tutorial.

Anyway, I picked it up on sale and finally got around to playing it. And it's... not terrible?

The Burning Earth covers the bigger moments from the show's second season (although it ends slightly differently). The cutscenes that start each of the seven chapters pull voice lines directly from the show (which is nice) but the in-game animations look like they're from a PS2 game that's still in development. I mean, graphically, the game is really rough. I played the Xbox 360 version but I'm 90% sure it's just a port from the PS2 version.

The gameplay is fairly repetitive. The characters all play more or less the same. The roster includes Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Momo, Jet, Zuko, and Iroh. Each fighter has a melee attack and a ranged attack and, despite the game telling you you've unlocked more combos, the inputs aren't responsive enough to actually pull off most of those combos, so you'll be doing the same three-hit attack over and over again.

To break up the combat, there's some light puzzle solving (extremely light, like pushing a block five feet to the left), light platforming (including a couple of escape sequences that play like an off-brand Crash Bandicoot), and a couple of rail shooter sequences. The boss fights that cap off each chapter are the only real challenge you'll face, but that's mainly because the bosses are cheap as hell. Still, if you stock up on enough potions (I had up to 12 in my inventory at one point and I don't know if there's an upper limit) you'll be fine.

The game takes maybe 5 hours to complete. Which is probably why I don't hate it that much. There are some "secrets" to be found (they unlock concept art... most of which seems to be background art), but that's about it.

If you're a fan of ATLA and you've got time to kill, it's a 6/10 experience. Not the absolute dog shit I'd been told it would be, but nothing I intend to play ever again. Of course, if you're not an ATLA fan, it's probably irredeemable garbage.

I’ve been looking for a good portable DVD player that can plug into my M1 MacBook, but the reviews are all over the place, so I figured I’d ask here. Any recommendations?

This one’s pretty simple, but basically in Beauty and the Beast, the Prince must’ve had crazy heightened senses as a beast. I mean like better hearing, better eyesight, better sense of smell… Plus, he was physically much stronger and faster than a regular person and his fur probably kept him much warmer (hence rarely wearing a shirt).

So transforming back into a regular human would mean losing all of those enhancements. He’d be slower, weaker, and all of his senses would feel diminished. It would be like rapidly aging and dealing with sensory loss from something like long covid in an instant.

It must’ve been absolutely devastating.