I was poor and so played very few titles when they first came out, but at some point later on discovered emulation, and loved seeing the magical wonderland of all the best games from the past.

I particularly loved seeing the “development” of a genre. Like Dragon Warrior/Quest was a game where the player controls a single character, who only had 8 item slots (though I don’t recall if you could fit like 3 or 8 or sth medical herbs together - even if so it was extremely constraining), and keys were something that you used once but never again. Then Dragon Warrior/Quest 2 added two additional characters to your party - but they were “fixed”, both magic-users, a prince & a princess iirc, who kinda swapped between them which was more powerful at the time as they learned new things. Then Dragon Warrior/Quest 3 allowed you to roll your own characters with a character creation menu in a tavern, and you could reject them and reroll to attempt higher stats, choose their names, classes and even upgrade classes, some like Sage needing special items from the world. Somewhere in there keys became permanent forever-use items, though they also expanded to include different “types” - opening locked wooden, metal, gold, or prison doors.

And Dragon Warrior/Quest 4 was one of the most intricate, multi-interleaving storylines that I’ve ever seen, despite the constraint of having to fit onto an old NES cartridge!:-) Those graphics were NOTHING like the 3-d effects of the later installments in the series, yet so very much of what made those franchises great were there.

Chrono Cross I did not like so much - it was “fine” as a game, but it was not the spiritual sequel that I hoped for:-). I occasionally play through Chrono Trigger every few years, like re-reading an old favorite book - the music, the story, the themes, it relaxes me and I enjoy it, plus it’s so short that such is do-able:-).

And look what we did for cows, sheep, etc.

Ironically this holds a bit true for humans as well, not that we are stuck that way as you mentioned for dogs yet our gestation time most definitely is severely elongated. It takes us 9 whole months just to get out of the womb, then basically 20 years to reach adulthood. And with that increased plasticity of our brains we can learn so much more. 🐒

Yes I played Crystalis! Not like, whenever it was when it first came out, but I like to study the evolution of gaming so I went back and played a bunch like Dragon Warrior/Quest, even the Japanese versions of Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, etc.

I definitely enjoyed Chrono Trigger more:-). But I was glad to have played Crystalis too, especially with it having been so unique (or at least like rare I guess).

And while I never played it, isn’t Baldur’s Gate also post-apocalyptic, with a high fantasy theme? There are indeed so many that use that trope.:-)

Or don’t know how to look at a code repo.

/* Well, fuck */

I’ve heard that but I think it’s not as deeply embedded in their root psyches. Like, cats can hunt in packs, whereas dogs flat are “pack animals”. But I am no vet psychologist so we’ll have to defer to the interwebs for that knowledge I suppose:-).

Make sure to feed them from your actual hand at first - otherwise, like with one of those auto-feeders, they may not even associate food with you! But they definitely appreciate gift bags to rip to shreds:-).

Yes as @ettyblatant@lemmy.world mentioned, that one and even more so Haunting of Bly Manor are two of the best shows I have ever watched - not merely best “horror” show mind you, but best period. It’s fantastic storytelling! Horror shows have really come up lately, compared to older ones that got less attention and funding to make.

And no worries - we haven’t even secured the house yet!? Maybe when we do, we can roll dice to see who gets to go first:-D.

I agree - and we’re dragging you into this circle as well (and no, not only bc @nightofmichelinstars@sopuli.xyz and I need a sacrifice - but also bc we’ll enjoy your company forever afterwards!:-)

(Image is from Haunting of Hill House - a fantastic film series!!!)

Star Trek comes to mind unless you disallow scifi (as high fantasy usually would iirc, though notably “space operas” really do seem to blur the line).

LOTR could be argued as such - there was an earlier age of beings from which only remnants survived, and then we also watch live as a second epochal transition takes place, where the likes of elves disappear. I mean, either way it’s not “our reality” type of age - but then again you couldn’t ask for that from “high fantasy” by definition :-).

And it’s a very common trope in video games - e.g. Chrono Trigger that is arguably the best RPG of all time (shitty graphics, even for its time, but hands-down the best story I’ve ever seen, made btw by the creators of Final Fantasy who were given the freedom to do whatever they wanted for it). Edit: another one like that is Lufia - not a ground-breaking game but highly regarded for doing what it did so very well, at its time mind you.

And I’ve seen some others where like basically Earth is implied to have been destroyed (or at least it is unclear whether it survived a world-ending event), but the singular human remaining lives on, in space, but in something like a series of interconnected “worlds”, some having higher levels of technology than Earth ever managed to reach while others are set in earlier timeframes. And dealing with noncorporeal beings from like higher dimensions, and entities like a god inside the machine - so definitely once again mixing up heavy elements of “high fantasy” (with the likes of swords and magic) and sci-fi.

If you can dream it, someone has likely written it. Books are freaking awesome! 😎 So too are other mediums, when profits are not the exclusive focus.

Entirely separately from the message content, I find it so awesome to see the author acknowledge their potential biases right at the start! :-D

So much of journalistic integrity seems dead these days that I wanted to call that out as being good, even though it probably is mandatory, but even so… how many would actually do it?

You also turn night into day and vice versa whenever you want - you’re kinda a god you know?:-P

What an unnatural, unholy, abominable … entirely awesome and cute story! 😁

Okay one powerful attraction of Lemmy is that here, some people are outright fucking KIND, and thoughtful, and considerate. And we can recognize their names more easily, due to the lower volume of content, and especially the lack of an algorithm pushing profits over your interests (you know that’s on purpose, right? People who pay money to X have their posts promoted more highly than those who do not - your own interests be damned). Like whenever we see a comment from Lvxferre I’m excited and always anticipate good things coming:-).

I gave up on that happening on Reddit a year ago - really multiple years but I stayed to help mod a couple small communities. There, thoughtful people are too often blown away by replies coming from the toxic scum, to the point where they, like me, didn’t even bother trying anymore.

Therefore I was going to leave Reddit anyway, no matter what happened. I did not like who it was turning me into - always defensive, always encouraged to pounce on trivial matters just to have something to talk about I guess. Imagine staying on Truth Social - you will be affected by them, you may think that you won’t, but you will.

Whereas here, if you block the big three (and are at least aware of Midwest.social), then you’ll still need to block hundreds of trolls - but it’s doable, one at a time, screetching their conservative agendas (even/especially those who label their thoughts as “leftist”). But it’s manageable, unlike on Reddit where outside of the niche subs with good moderators, it’s too difficult.

Btw those subs may increasingly come under Huffman’s control - he worships the Musk, and he’ll at some point make an announcement about “we aim to provide a more consistent experience across Reddit” - and those mods will lose their ability to decide who is or is not a troll, especially when they say things that Reddit wants to keep (bc of increasing profits engagement). Whatever Reddit is now, just like X (though far slower it would seem), it will change.

Btw you may be interested in this article: https://medium.com/@max.p.schlienger/the-cargo-cult-of-the-ennui-engine-890c541cebcb - this is what convinced me to leave Reddit, regardless of whether I could find a home here or not.

Bonus: extra friends, and if you offer a sacrifice yearly, they defend the place when you are gone - woot!

9/10 would do again.

1/10 take a nap, and then do it again.

That, and you are like 20 times her size! (I assume your daughter isn’t a lion, tiger, panther, etc.:-D)

She definitely wants to tear you to shreds though, you can tell. She also wants you to do it to her in return - just don’t overdo it!:-)

Unlike dogs where you are part of their “pack”, for cats you are their mother - seriously, your petting them is their mother licking their fur to clean it, and their purs help you realize that they are alive and well.

The odd part is that in the wild, the kitten doesn’t stay with the mother all that long. So unlike dogs, we keep cats in a permanent juvenile state - that’s why they don’t (so much) “obey”, bc they are confident in their special status of being loved by mother.

They’re not sending their best and brightest folks. And some I assume are good people, but…