Introductions

obligatory pinglist even though most of you are gone :p @kieshara @Rumy @imupacreek2000 @Condemned @Merridiel @Lunaleaf @SmallAndWinged @Aristatide @Severing @PrinceKai @Kassandra @Trinketta @Kojiki @FromBeyondtheRim @IronPen @Miaow @memprime @Yay @blueshimmer127 @solarscribe @Nicarrathebold @Delvien @Fallenarrow @Saphelle @sasga @desolim @PaladinPrince @Ralen @luckyvulpi @kdskid007 @Tobias @Rivix @AristaHolmes @tetris @ShouLyon @Mudkip @LethargicWizard @Deathstalker @Aetherseer @Azcazach @Calculus @Silviya @Crosshound @Lannathel @ARoundPtarmigan Hi again everyone :) Sorry I didn't get to post this earlier in the week. I [i]did[/i] remember about FFF the week before and checked my calendar, but forgot over the weekend so I ddin't prep anything... and then Sunday evening I came down with a fever for about 24 hours and tested positive for covid on Monday. Also my AC broke Monday evening (but they got it fixed first thing Tues morning) so... it's just been that kind of week over here. My health is fine--I was vaccinated in the spring and my symptoms have been less severe than most sinus colds I get--but I've definitely been under the weather, resting, and just not feeling like writing here. On the subject of "not writing", two additional bits: 1) I'm planning on keeping this a bit shorter than usual and not doing as much of a yearly recap as I usually do. 2) I expect this will be the last of these 'reunion'/recap/whatever-they're-calleds. I'm thought about not continuing this for the past couple years, so I'm gonna go ahead and just say this is the last one. A lot of the people I hung out with 6 (six? that long already!) years ago aren't here anymore, and for those who are... well, PM me if you want to stay in touch :p I can always do one of these and send it via email or discord or something that's not quite as public as a webforum. I will probably still drop by the site once or twice a year for a while just to say I did, I just won't post or do much with it. General life stuff -- I think last year I mentioned I was finally getting a website running, and I [i]do[/i] have a proof-of-concept up ...but I've also taken a couple months off here and there, and am working through some tech issues (again) that are keeping me from updating it at the moment, so I'm still not comfortable using it to help my jobsearch [ emoji=fae anxious laugh size=1 ] If you think the "Shop Heroes" type of game is entertaining, feel free to PM me and I'll let you know once I have something that I consider playable and not just an unending loop... whenever that is. So it doesn't feel like much has changed in the past year, and the continued lockdown doesn't help that either [emoji=fae tongue size=1] Gaming -- The DLC for Streets of Rage 4 has been fun :) I've also been playing OW regularly on Wednesday nights with a different group from last year, and FO76 get played regularly as well. I tried out Stellaris for a bit, but aside from the Star Trek conversion mod, I can't recommend it... and I don't think it's worth buying just for the mod, unless you really need a Star Trek fix for some reason [emoji=fae tongue size=1] Have also been watching '94 XCom and Pheonix Point playthroughs this past week, and that's been fun. Anime -- I [i]finally[/i] caught up on Attack on Titan. It keeps taking left turns that make it a worse story, IMO, but I still want to finish it and maybe someday rewatch the entire thing so I can have a better idea of how it all fits together. There [i]is[/i] enough foreshadowing that maybe it will work better in one sitting instead of feeling like the story keeps changing on me. I'm a little upset that they had to stop halfway through "the last season", but as long as they wrap it up sometime I'll be ok [emoji=fae laughing size=1] I did also finally get to That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (but not The Slime Diaries yet), and I [i]love[/i] empire/society-building stories. So that part of it is great! [emoji=fae star size=1] The reason I didn't like the first SAO is that it skipped those parts, which were what I was watching [i]that[/i] show for [ emoji=fae annoyed size=1 ] . I've also more-or-less kept up with My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen, but they come across as reversioned Naruto so they just don't grab me as much as they might have. I've watched a bunch of other random stuff but nothing that's stood out that I want to recommend... but that's generally what I think of anime anyway ;) ------ Looks like that's the important bits I wanted to say. And I better post this while it's still technically FFF [emoji=fae laughing size=1] I will check back in a couple days if anyone wants to catch up, but PMs might be better than posts here just in case it takes me a while for some reason. Stay safe everyone [emoji=heart size=1]

@StrykeslammerII If you need anything from the fest feel free to hit me up for extra. Also I know the ending of Attack on Titan, the manga at least, and it is.....an experience and I wonder how faithful the anime will follow. And sure you wanna make friends on discord my PMs are always open. I hope everything gets better for you though [emoji=familiar heart size=1]It's been a rough year on us all. Also I recommend the SAO Abridged by SomethingWitty Entertainment instead if you just want a laugh. I haven't watched much like anime though I did see Knives Out and it was great so there's my recommendation!

[quote name="IronPen" date="2021-08-28 22:47:26" ] I haven't watched much like anime though I did see Knives Out and it was great so there's my recommendation! [/quote] Oo! Yes, I did actually get to see that! It's good enough I would probably watch it again, and I don't typically like movies XD edit :: I heard a rumor that there's going to be a sequel, but I haven't gone looking so IDK any details. It seemed pretty self-contained so I'm not really hyped, but I [i]would[/i] like to see another movie as good as the first one :D (already sent you a PM here as well haha)

hmmmmm, thanks for that heads up on attack on titan. might wait before trying to catch up.

congrats on the advancements to the website!

@Saphelle

I know very few people who think that Adulthood is all that :D
"Don't leave college" is a subset of "Don't grow old" :p Stay in school, kids! lol

However, I fully intend to grow as old as I can, thank you very much! Though I may not ever get back to college and I don't think I should get a career in academia at this point.
I digress :p

I don't think I managed to sit through the outro to JJK, haha. The video just seemed too much of a mismatch to the series for me to take it seriously, so I always bailed on it :p

I consider Fruits Basket (the original series) and Trigun my first exposures to "real" anime (rather the dubbed stuff on Cartoon Network, which was only just getting away from DBZ and Sailor Moon). Nowadays I prefer binging series (or at least, being able to watch the whole thing on my own schedule rather than just one ep a week) so I waited till season 2 of the new Fruits Basket was done before starting it... only to find out that there's gonna be a third season still! Yeesh XD
....Ooo, Fruits Basket "The Final Season" is already done, yay, I think I know what I'm watching next!

For a reboot though, I liked it much more than I thought I would. It's up there with Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood on "how to do a reboot right". Both reboots follow the manga more than the original anime, but Furuba still tells a different story from the manga. (From what I vaguely remember... I read all but the last book, what, 15+ years ago?)

----
As for the game...
It's essentially a fantasy-setting pawn shop.

Instead of being an adventurer, raiding dungeons and selling loot back at town, you're a shopkeeper trying to make a living by reselling things that adventurers no longer want.

There are several games in this genre already, but all of the ones I've played have too much of a focus on making the items. They also to focus on only selling things, rather than buying and selling.

I'm more interested in exploring "what happens to the economy of a border town when adventurers move in and start dumping their excess gear?"
Sure, there are blacksmiths in town, but probably not weapon/armorsmiths... certainly not ones that are that good. So if any sort of repeatable adventuring starts to happen, it's more likely that an armor/weapon smith will move into town after they hear that it's a good place for business.

Which gives a local pawnshop startup time to make a name for themselves first ;)

At this point in planning, I honestly have more half-thought ideas than anything solid. All it has so far is a daily "any adventurers coming back from a quest? ...any adventurers want to sell? ...any other adventurers want to buy? ...any other adventurers ready to go questing? " loop. No money sinks or other things for the player (or adventurers) to interact with. It's functional, but not playable.
I really should take some of time I'm not actually coding stuff and put more work into some sort of design document. That'll make coding the first round of upgrades faster once I'm able to do that.

And I'll hit you up on Discord sometime this week :D

I've not logged in for ages, so I'm glad I decided to today and caught this!
I'll DM you my Discord handle because I'm on there practically every day, and if you're not continuing your yearly updates, I'd still love to stay in touch some other way (Although, fair warning, I'm a terrible penpal -- I lurk)

[ I think I'm caught up with everyone through this point, now ] @AristaHolmes Amazing timing! <3 I guess I should write up something a little more solid for this year after all? I just won't post it here. There are a few things that happened that I think are worth mentioning, but didn't really want to put in my post here. I was trying to keep up penpals with a couple other people from FR as well, and have fallen out of contact with them some years back, so this would give me an excuse to write to them as well. (After Covid, I kept thinking of writing to them, but never got past the "thinking" step... and have been doing that for over a year now. Bad Strike [emoji=fae sad size=1] )

(and since I seem to be checking on this thread still)

Just finished watching 86 Eighty-six. I think I liked it? It's a little weird.
Very social commentary on racism and war in the middle of a robot apocalypse. It also feels a little experimental regarding chronology and exposition.
So it's probably not for everyone :D ...but it's also only 11 episodes long, so it won't waste your time if you decide you don't like it :p

@StrykeSlammerII

Hoo, it's been a while, hasn't it?

That whole adulthood thing has had me firmly in its grasp for some time now, and the pandemic certainly hasn't helped. Sorry to hear you have COVID; glad to hear you're vaccinated so your case is less severe than it otherwise could be.