I’ve played a bit of the Pokemon Adventures Red version romhack, but never completed that as it wasn’t particularly interesting. What ROM hacks would you recommend? I’d like a challenge but nothing crazy.

Gosh, I’ve realized I don’t finish games lol. I’ve put many hours in Forza Horizon, Factorio, Pokemon, Cities Skylines, and incremental games but here are the ones I actually beat in 2023 so far, although I’m about to beat Pokemon Scarlet so I’ll include that too.

1. Pokemon Sun (cartridge). (4/10). Why am I rating this so low? It’s my least favorite Pokemon game I’ve played. I finished it this year, but started it in 2018. The game leans way too heavy on the story and not in the gameplay. The game felt like a huge downgrade from OR/AS. It also plays incredibly slow. Not touching Gen 7 again. The battles were nice and intense with enough difficulty to excite me though.

2. Chip Defense (8/10). You can find it on F-droid, and it’s free. It’s a little tower defense game with a theme on CPUs and instructions. It took me a few hours to beat all the levels and it hooked me.

3. Pokemon White (emulator), limited pokemon center challenge. (9.3/10). I absolutely love Gen 5 and I did a challenge a lot like a Nuzlocke but more interesting and far less stressful. You can only catch the first pokemon on each route, and any non-forced heal would cost 5000*2^(number of prior heals done) poke dollars. That way, I could have a pokemon faint and not have it be the end of my 40 hour playthrough. I actually (unintentionally) lost to Ghetsis at the end but I planned for that and had enough money for one more heal, and then beat him the 2nd time.

4. Factorio Bob’s/Angel’s (hardcore Factorio mod). (9.5/10). Do you like Factorio but want 10x more complicated recipes that include lots of byproducts to deal with? Then this mod is for you! It took me 123 hours to launch a rocket, and apparently that’s pretty quick. The base is one huge pile of spaghetti with a 90 lane bus split into three.

5. Pokémon Scarlet (cartridge). (8/10). I haven’t quite gotten to the credits yet but I’ve beaten the Top Champion so I’m very close. This game is one of the most fun pokemon games imo despite being extremely flawed. The open world is a huge breath of fresh air after the last 4 gens being 4 big lines. The frame drops are not the really annoying thing about this game, it’s the cutscenes and long battle animations. (Gen 7 was even worse with this). The exploration isn’t groundbreaking but I love how random encounters were ditched for overworld pokemon (even with the lamentable draw distance), that you could run into and instantly fight without a 10s cutscene playing. Trainers are finally all optional. I don’t play for the story but it’s one of the better ones for pokemon games. Having multiple arcs at the same time keeps things interesting for me. The game isn’t the most difficult (probably average+ for pokemon standards) but I made it satisfyingly hard on myself when forcing myself to comply with set mode, no items in battle, and trying to win while underleveled. Also the music is a masterpiece, bravo Giacomo.

I get what you mean, and I agree with you. But locked bootloaders can be good for security, but as long as they’re unlockable they are good for freedom. You mean to say un-unlockable bootloaders should be banned.

What I’m noticing is that the first game had 2015 graphics and on a medium to large city runs at cinematic framerates (20-30fps). On Cities 2 the graphics are a mishmash of 2010 and 2025 graphics that run somewhat poorly, but also stutter a lot. On my 10k city I’m getting 45fps average with low-medium settings with the recommended changes to improve performance, but large lag spikes are frequent.

I’ve been having playable framerates but they’re not improving. On a 10k city I get about 45fps average but I frequently experience frame drops which definitely make it less enjoyable to play the game. My specs are Ryzen 9 5900HX, RX6800M, 32GB RAM

But price disparities already exist in other places sometimes. Like YT premium using the App store (due to the 30% cut) and everywhere else.

There’s no way that can be legal. I generally support Valve but that is monopolistic as hell.

So why can’t they sell their game for $56 on Epic and $70 on Steam? They’d make about the same money per sale on each?

I have a crazy idea for Epic. Instead of paying a fortune for exclusives, leverage the lower 12% cut and have game publishers sell for less (so that the publisher makes the same amount on Steam and Epic)

Factorio

Cities Skylines

Antimatter Dimensions (this one led to the growth of my YouTube channel)

I’d much rather pay one time purchases than a subscription, because then it feels like I’m just renting instead of buying.

And an “EOL” game isn’t necessarily bad because now modders can mod the game without worrying about updates breaking things, unless the game goes truly “EOL” by removing aspects of the game or worse, the game itself.

Pixels filling squares maybe?

Why the hell would they add the DRM after release when the game is already cracked before the DRM was added? I can never understand this logic.

Two of the reasons why I chose a Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) over a Pixel 6a with much better other specs was that it has 256GB internal storage and that it has a MicroSDXC slot vs 128GB and no slot. This stuff matters to me.

Still, a simulated slot machine with worthless chips is adult only over manipulative loot boxes? This regulation is too lopsided.

So a game with a harmless in-game poker minigame with worthless chips are strictly adult only, but not games with real money loot boxes specifically designed to addict you and take your money?

Depends on your preferred platform.

For emulators or GBA, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald is a good choice with one of the best OSTs in all of Pokemon

Black/White is another good choice with a banger OST for emulators or DS. Also has the best story imo.

If you have a 3DS, or prefer an easier Pokemon game, OR/AS (Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire) is a really good remake of Ruby/Sapphire.

Many recommend FireRed/LeafGreen as a first pokemon game, but the OST isn’t as good imo.

Pokemon for the OSTs. Always so good, from the first games to the most recent ones.

Wait, I forgot an entire genre of games: FPS games. The fast paced spinning of your field of view literally makes me nauseous. Even Minecraft has that effect on me sometimes.

Probably Beam.NG drive for me. Highly rated driving/racing game on Steam, and I thought I’d like it because it’s like Forza Horizon 4 or 5 but more realistic. Unfortunately, maybe I’m used to Forza but the controls are janky and the UI is clunky. The mods I’ve tried are fun for a few minutes but gimmicky.

Whenever I get the itch to drive a virtual car with my controller, I just fire up Forza Horizon 5.

Perhaps the game will come around to me down the line if I want more pure simulation or more fun with mods.

Mostly ambivalent to it.

However, the quick settings is a big downgrade from before. Less buttons, more space. And don’t even get me started on the horrible design of the internet toggle.