Bandcamp is a good option for directly supporting artists for the time being, especially if you queue up all your purchases for a Bandcamp Friday, where artists/labels receive all the money rather than BC taking their 20% cut.

Not just a good option, but the best option I know of. If you buy an album for $5, that’s equivalent to the earnings for thousands of plays on Spotify. And that would be assuming the artist even gets enough total Spotify plays to qualify for their payout under the new rules.

They are stealing from artists who bring business to the platform, and using the guise of protecting themselves from bot streamers. Oh, and they recently raised the subscription price by 25% in my country. Spotify was the most satisfying subscription to cancel that I have ever cancelled.

They’re also being accused of pushing their own AI-generated slop music so that they have to pay out even less to real artists. Fuck Spotify.

Land of the free

Some middle eastern brand of juice crystal mix. It’s kind of like Tang, in mango and guava flavours, and the containers are the size of coffee tins. I think it might have been expired when I bought it. It expired 4 years ago but I still drink it occasionally and don’t notice anything wrong.

Graphics have never been a priority for me, they’re more like an inevitable side effect of technology advancing. Luckily there is no shortage of good old games, and a lot of smaller studios are making amazing titles with older art styles / less demanding specs.

That moment when the giant ball appears behind you, blocking the door like in a horror movie was one of the funniest moments I’ve had in gaming.

52 minutes today, but I was asleep for about 20 of those

What is this post about? By “we” do you mean the USA?

Keep a lint brush in the main rooms of your home. One for the couch and living room, one for the bed and clothes when getting dressed. I find they are a lot more effective than a vacuum, and less of a chore to reach for frequently.

Yes it is worth it. The return on gameplay hours for the cost of a game can be incredibly high.

I recommend you start by downloading Steam on a laptop or PC and browse some games, or try some demos. Some games require mouse and keyboard, while others are better with a controller - my preference is a regular Xbox controller, it’s plug and play.

deleted by creator

Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing and learn the hard way. Anyone can tell you to do your assignments, but until you fail the course and have to do it again the consequences might not seem real. Then you will really be kicking yourself for wasting even more time.

• kick out the drummer
• she’s not worth it
• she is also not worth it
• save every last dollar you can
• don’t smoke that cigarette
• forget BlackBerry, put it in an index fund instead

deleted by creator

“Folks” makes my skin crawl. I feel like it’s used to make someone appear friendlier while saying “you people”, in the context of being manipulated by someone with power.

That sucks that you can’t just be yourself

That’s what I’ve been playing this week too. The challenge now is not the bosses but how to cut their tails. Kalameet’s tail weapon still eludes me.

I’m just here for the Reddit alternative. Being FOSS is a bonus.

I’d say I’m more of a computer person than the average person, but less so than the average Lemmy user.

This is very interesting to me, re: enemy spam. Goes to show everyone is different. I literally have no issue running through basically any area in DS1, including the ones you listed. Meanwhile iron keep, the magic swamp area, the bell tower area, and the run back to the samurai dlc boss all haunted me. There’s another part in the dlc where you send like oil barrel dudes through a trap door. I did that area about 30x until Everything despawned.

I definitely know what you mean about those areas in 2. All four Lord Soul runbacks in DS1 make me feel a similar way. Though if any of these areas in either game were easy it wouldn’t feel so dang good to overcome them :)

You benefit a lot from being able to use ranged weapons from time to time.

Totally. My first playthrough was as a sorcerer which was difficult, but advantageous in many ways. These games are praised for not hand-holding and DS2 is no different - you’re expected to adapt. Adaptability is not just a stat, but a state of mind.

When there is enemy spam in ds1, you can almost always run past it. In ds2 you’re pretty much forced to fight every single enemy every single time.

I have to disagree. I never felt body-blocked so often in 2 as I did in 1. They don’t make it easy, but in 2 most areas you can just run through if you bait enemy attacks as you dodge. There are some exceptions like Iron Keep which is downright sadistic in forcing you to kill the enemies, though, for sure. I felt the same way with the bloat-heads in Oolacile township, Demonic Foliage in Darkroot Garden, crystal undead in Duke’s, 90% of enemies in Undead Burg and Parish, New Londo Ghosts. I’m sure the amount of experience with either game can make the difference between running through and getting stun-locked though - I still feel like a noob when playing 1.

I do think it’s over hated but I think it’s because people wanted a clone of ds1 which its not. If you went into without any expectations, I suspect it would be viewed much differently.

I think you’re right. I played 2 before 1. Both were frustratingly difficult at times, but that was the only expectation I had going in, since the series is known for being about overcoming challenges.