Hobbies Things that took you way, WAY too long to read, watch, play, or listen to

bdt2002

bdt2002

Guardian Signs super-fan
is a Pre-Contributor
Here's a neat little idea I had for a discussion thread. Most of the time when someone says something they really liked is as good as it is, there's at least some chance that they experienced whatever that something was "in its prime", when it was brand new and taking the world by storm. It's not uncommon for people to become super nostalgic for things they grew up with- I mean, heck, most of my entire online profile is centered around a Pokémon Ranger game for crying out loud- but those kinds of things have been talked about to death at this point. Sometimes, though, we come across older media a long time after it was released. This can happen for a number of reasons, with burnout from "newer media" and an interest to see what other people grew up with both being common situations people go through every year. My personal favorite: "Is insert media franchise here really as good as my friends have said it is, or is this just super overrated?"

I'm not afraid to admit I was late to the party on... a lot of things. That's okay, though. In fact, I actually... kind of prefer it that way? It's strange, I know, but knowing there's an entire generation of kids up and coming now that will grow up with radically different things than I did, I'm finally starting to understand what people mean when they look at younger people, like myself, and start reminiscing about the glory days. Maybe these books, shows, movies, games, music, whatever it is, maybe this stuff really is as good as they say, I started telling myself during college. In this sense, my idea to make this thread actually goes as far back as my junior year of college (the 2022-23 academic calendar year, if anyone's wondering). It took me THAT long to finally get around to watching a certain hit... cartoon? Anime? What is this show exactly? I still can't really tell what this franchise counts as, but... well...

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Yeah, no, I was wrong. This show's a freaking banger, and I had no idea what I was missing for just over 15 years at that point. All of the hype for this original series- ignore the 2010 movie and the recent Netflix adaptation- is totally justified. I... I was at a loss for words. Not only did I start seeing a little bit of myself in Aang at one point, as someone who always felt like and knew he was different from other people and was constantly pushing himself to live up to standards HE was putting onto himself, but the supporting cast, the locations the show visited, the soundtrack, OH MAN the music in this series... I'm getting chills just typing this up right now. Like I've said multiple times by this point, I have no idea what took me so long to sit down and watch this from start to finish but BOY am I glad I did. The last season makes a genuine argument for the single best season I've ever seen from a show. It's THAT good. Even the first two seasons, while not being as emotionally strong as Season 3 are still excellent and set this world up in a way that's easy to understand while making you want to see more with these characters and their various abilities. Overall, this show actually manages to dodge a lot of the problems that are gatekeeping me from wanting to watch a lot of, say, modern shonen anime for example. (Emphasis on "Modern", I hear The Big 3 were also pretty solid in their prime.) There is stuff here like power scaling, the "Cliché Trio" archetype I've never been a big fan of- for context, that's when a series has its main three characters be the protagonist, a best friend, and a potential love interest- a few story arcs that don't work as well as others, but every show of this variety is going to have some of these things and the tropes that are visited here, as someone that likes to write, these are some of the better examples of these tropes that I've seen and none of it really takes that much attention away from what makes up the core appeal of the show. For the most part everything gets just the right amount of emphasis and screen time without getting too little or too much, and because of that you're able to develop a fondness and connection for these characters as they grow throughout the series and develop their own senses of identity.

It's not every day that something I originally missed out on for so long can shock me with how good it was to this extent. That's why I wanted to make this thread. Not only as a way for me to maybe discover even more gems I've missed out on so far, but so you can all share your stories with each other, too. Am I using this as an excuse to type up that whole paragraph about how much I loved The Last Airbender? Eh... maybe. But can you really blame me? I'm just looking forward to hearing everyone's stories, really.
 
At a series level, I probably have more stories about this than actually getting into things during the main hype cycle. But I've already gone at length about how "this needs to be modernized" falls flat when you've enjoyed its past pretty recently, so let's skip series that are primarily video games this time.

Do you recognize this ship from Star Wars? Or do you just recognize something similar not clearly enough to tell the difference?
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This is the Victory-class Star Destroyer. It's what I like about Star Wars distilled into one ship. Lucasfilm has never put it on screen.

As you might expect by what thread this is, I got into SW during a lull in mainstream activity (the gap between Episode III and the Disney acquisition). While I watched the movies around this time, what held my interest more was the video games and books. Not the novels, mind, the sizable information guides referencing them. The absolutely massive worldbuilding going on where, despite the large number of writers and not much formal direction, there was an attempt made to keep everything cohesive just because they were excited about the setting.

So where does the VSD fit into all this? Right at the beginning. It's in one of the oldest SW books that said "go and make stories in this setting," a tabletop RPG manual. This was before the main book series got running, let alone the prequel movies. I imagine the reason it existed there was much the same as why it was in Empire at War where I first encountered it: an imperial capital ship for situations where balance needs a lighter weight class than the standard Imperial-class.

Following this, the VSD would appear in a significant number of novels, as the Empire split and decayed and needed to bring smaller and earlier designs back to the forefront. One of the splinter warlords' elite, custom-painted fleet was VSDs rather than ISDs. As the prequels were released, the VSD slotted in perfectly as showing the transition between Republic and Empire.

My dislike of Disney discarding much of this content and of the sequel movies did have me leaving Star Wars behind for a while. When I came back, it was under the stance of fan projects carrying on the legacy of what got me interested regardless of what the more tightly controlled official brand was doing. Part of what got me back was the tabletop wargame Armada, which I can't help but feel bookends this story. Once again, there needed to be an imperial ship that was a fair opponent in the starter set, and once again the VSD was chosen. This was the Star Wars I remembered.
 
shadowpea said:
took me so long to play hollow knight that silksong is already is getting announced
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I wanted to mention this earlier than… right now, but I heard the game finally, and I do mean literally finally getting a release date. That’s hype. In fact, I think my mind has been changed for me. I’m going to tell my friend groups the same thing I’m about to say here. I’ve had Hollow Knight on my radar for a little while now, and I am at least somewhat interested to see what all the hype’s about. I have a tendency to ignore games in my backlog for a very. Very. Very long time, though, so here’s the deal.

I’m going to get Hollow Knight for my PS4 Pro since I got that console in 2020 and I still don’t have any interest in any of the current-gen consoles or a PC at this time. I do have a few reasons to upgrade, but when I say a few, that list consists of literally only four games and one of them is a Switch 2 exclusive. So if I enjoy Hollow Knight, and actually get myself to want to sit down and play it for more than three sessions of 30 minutes a piece, I’ll add Silksong to my list of reasons to upgrade. Do we have a deal, Hollow Knight fans? We can even negotiate if you’d like since I tend to enjoy trying new platformers quite a bit.
 
Undertale. I mean I had heard about it for years, plenty of people had told me to play it. I mean it kinda was everywhere, but I miraculously avoided spoilers

Well, I had one of my friends gift it to me earlier this year, so I was like well I gotta try it out now, right?

I did... And I didn't really like it. I got up to where the skelly bros are making you do puzzles and stuff then I dropped it. I get the main draw is the story and characters rather than the gameplay, but I really was not enjoying like the hour of time I put into the game so far. Probably won't revisit to be honest.

I'm not going to say the game is bad or anything, just not for me.
 
NegativeZer0 said:
Undertale. I mean I had heard about it for years, plenty of people had told me to play it. I mean it kinda was everywhere, but I miraculously avoided spoilers

Well, I had one of my friends gift it to me earlier this year, so I was like well I gotta try it out now, right?

I did... And I didn't really like it. I got up to where the skelly bros are making you do puzzles and stuff then I dropped it. I get the main draw is the story and characters rather than the gameplay, but I really was not enjoying like the hour of time I put into the game so far. Probably won't revisit to be honest.

I'm not going to say the game is bad or anything, just not for me.
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I've felt the same and will probably feel the same when I do finally play it myself lol, this only confirms my dread on actually pulling the trigger on giving it a go, sigh. It's been on my list for so long it may actually be collecting dust at this point.

Also the same for Deltarune and Homestuck while we're at it. I'll give it a go one day. One day..
 
Mid-2010s Undertale brainrot ruined any chance I considered of wanting to play that game or try out Deltarune :worrywhirl:

It’s a shame because the game does actually look kind of decent even if it’s not my usual cup of tea. The music is pretty catchy, I doubt anyone’s still doubting Toby Fox’s composition skills in the big ‘25, and even if I don’t necessarily care for the writing, this game’s in a weird spot where, because of that brainrot, the game looks so bad it looks good? It’s a pretty unique gameplay style but my least favorite thing on the planet is decision making and that’s kind of the whole point of this game so… yeah, maybe not. Let me make this clear, none of this means Undertale is a bad game. It’s just… sometimes you’re on the Internet and wish you didn’t have working hearing and sight. Let’s put it that way.
 
bdt2002 said:
Mid-2010s Undertale brainrot ruined any chance I considered of wanting to play that game or try out Deltarune :worrywhirl:

It’s a shame because the game does actually look kind of decent even if it’s not my usual cup of tea. The music is pretty catchy, I doubt anyone’s still doubting Toby Fox’s composition skills in the big ‘25, and even if I don’t necessarily care for the writing, this game’s in a weird spot where, because of that brainrot, the game looks so bad it looks good? It’s a pretty unique gameplay style but my least favorite thing on the planet is decision making and that’s kind of the whole point of this game so… yeah, maybe not. Let me make this clear, none of this means Undertale is a bad game. It’s just… sometimes you’re on the Internet and wish you didn’t have working hearing and sight. Let’s put it that way.
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I find it really funny to bring up there being too many decisions to make (on the more story-based side) where one of my bigger gripes is that there's very few decisions to make (on the gameplay-based side). Making mechanically distinct character builds is like the main thing I get enjoyment out of in a RPG, and it just doesn't exist in Undertale.

It's supposed to be interesting for the plot? Funny story about that, which happens to tangentially relate to my other big issue with that series. It turns out that Pokemon wasn't the only RPG series that had reached the level of Autistic Special Interest for me that had a major shakeup in 2019: my preferred Tabletop RPG system decided to change a lot of stuff I liked for its next edition, that went into public beta that summer. The stated reason for these changes was because it worked better with the devs future stories they wanted. So I basically gave up on stories in games entirely and went looking for tabletop wargames to occupy my time instead. I've mellowed somewhat since, I wonder how much of it was 40k having its own "streamlining"/crashout a couple years ago, but I'm still acutely aware of how I'll forgive a story contrivance if I'm excited about what gameplay is coming next while major plot points will be unceremoniously skipped if they follow a low point in game play (I wonder if anything is ever going to top that part about 2/3 through Xenoblade 3 that made the mistake of being after a gimmick boss fight that really shouldn't have restricted what could be in the last party slot).

Circling back to Undertale, the theoretically interesting gameplay that is constantly shoved around to the story's whims is extremely frustrating to me. Combined with the story trying its best to tear down genre conventions that are honestly fine, I end up thinking of Undertale not really as a game at all. It comes off as a hit piece showing players of RPGs who play how those games have often been played as evil, like it's trying to fit in with the bashing of D&D as Satanic back in the 80s. That's... not really something I can stand being a big and influential thing in the wide gaming scene. Sometimes I think of trying to salvage what little I saw out of the combat system, probably in no small part out of spite, but I also don't want to contribute to its legacy.
 
Oglemi said:
Also the same for Deltarune and Homestuck while we're at it. I'll give it a go one day. One day..
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I would say Homestuck is worth giving a shot at least once in your life just to see, but I don't think it hits the same if you're reading it after its heyday as a non-teenager. You're no longer participating in a massive subculture if you follow it and post about it online (I mean, there's still a fandom, but its days of crashing websites are over), and I think the reading experience is bogged down by uneven pacing and Andrew Hussie's tendency to write himself into corners that he has to deus ex machina his way out of. I still got a lot out of it as a young person, but I've been putting off rereading it in part because I'm afraid to see how I will find it now that I am no longer in the same age demographic as its protagonists.
 
Ironmage said:
I find it really funny to bring up there being too many decisions to make (on the more story-based side) where one of my bigger gripes is that there's very few decisions to make (on the gameplay-based side). Making mechanically distinct character builds is like the main thing I get enjoyment out of in a RPG, and it just doesn't exist in Undertale.
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I suppose I did a poor job of specifying what I meant by “making a lot of decisions”. Mechanically distinct character builds, that I can get behind. Having more options of how to play a game is almost always a good thing, and in a way it can double as a sort of difficulty slider for games that are unbalanced to the point where certain builds are just that much stronger compared to other classes and the like. When I say Undertale involves decision making, in my head I was talking about the Save mechanics and the different story routes, though even this plays to the game’s advantage. Any turn-based RPG in particular is going to have decision making as a core element of the gameplay, but making “the wrong choices” whenever they do come up in this game rarely feels actively punishing like it might in a different game.


So once again I find myself in a situation where I think too hard into something and I find out I don’t know what I’m talking about, I was wrong someone else was right, blah blah blah I’m sure my family’s sick of me being so hard on myself. You’re probably wondering what that has to do with anything in this thread. Surprisingly enough, there is actually something here, though.

Consider this. You’re given an option to play something with a more linear design or something more open-ended. Which would you pick? Both styles have their merit, but me personally I’ve never really been a fan of the “Everything has to be an open-world collect-a-thon” stereotype I started believing of the late 2010s and early 2020s. This stereotype is definitely not true, there’s plenty of games of all kinds of genres to pick from right now but something about exploring in more linear games makes me feel smarter and resonate with the game more than if exploration is actively encouraged. Does that make sense? It feels more rewarding to explore off the beaten path than if there… is no beaten path. And then we look at games that specifically try and make the most of simplicity. While I’m all for games trying new things, sometimes I fear that comes at the cost of ignoring core aspects of the game that may need some fine tuning.

This is where I look at games like Undertale or Deltarune and can appreciate something about their design philosophy. Sometimes I forget that it’s okay to enjoy video games purely for the sake of wanting to enjoy them, and even though the lore confuses me at times I do appreciate that these games are something people can try and enjoy even if they’re not necessarily “good at it” or going through anything that may make the games less appealing. I already know I suck at everything I play and I’ve spent too much time letting myself get upset over something that should just be a hobby, but I think what I’m trying to say here is that as an autistic person with a list of things that bother me, the amount of decision making in these games may not be as high as I thought at first but I still have my curiosity on how linear these games actually are.

Familiarity speaks to me, as does linear structure, and I think that’s why it’s so hard for someone like me who relies so much on that routine and structure to want to branch out and try new games, especially when I’m worried and embarrassed that I don’t know what I’m talking about and am always putting out these super long essay-style posts.
 
bdt2002 said:
I suppose I did a poor job of specifying what I meant by “making a lot of decisions”. Mechanically distinct character builds, that I can get behind. Having more options of how to play a game is almost always a good thing, and in a way it can double as a sort of difficulty slider for games that are unbalanced to the point where certain builds are just that much stronger compared to other classes and the like. When I say Undertale involves decision making, in my head I was talking about the Save mechanics and the different story routes, though even this plays to the game’s advantage. Any turn-based RPG in particular is going to have decision making as a core element of the gameplay, but making “the wrong choices” whenever they do come up in this game rarely feels actively punishing like it might in a different game.


So once again I find myself in a situation where I think too hard into something and I find out I don’t know what I’m talking about, I was wrong someone else was right, blah blah blah I’m sure my family’s sick of me being so hard on myself. You’re probably wondering what that has to do with anything in this thread. Surprisingly enough, there is actually something here, though.

Consider this. You’re given an option to play something with a more linear design or something more open-ended. Which would you pick? Both styles have their merit, but me personally I’ve never really been a fan of the “Everything has to be an open-world collect-a-thon” stereotype I started believing of the late 2010s and early 2020s. This stereotype is definitely not true, there’s plenty of games of all kinds of genres to pick from right now but something about exploring in more linear games makes me feel smarter and resonate with the game more than if exploration is actively encouraged. Does that make sense? It feels more rewarding to explore off the beaten path than if there… is no beaten path. And then we look at games that specifically try and make the most of simplicity. While I’m all for games trying new things, sometimes I fear that comes at the cost of ignoring core aspects of the game that may need some fine tuning.

This is where I look at games like Undertale or Deltarune and can appreciate something about their design philosophy. Sometimes I forget that it’s okay to enjoy video games purely for the sake of wanting to enjoy them, and even though the lore confuses me at times I do appreciate that these games are something people can try and enjoy even if they’re not necessarily “good at it” or going through anything that may make the games less appealing. I already know I suck at everything I play and I’ve spent too much time letting myself get upset over something that should just be a hobby, but I think what I’m trying to say here is that as an autistic person with a list of things that bother me, the amount of decision making in these games may not be as high as I thought at first but I still have my curiosity on how linear these games actually are.

Familiarity speaks to me, as does linear structure, and I think that’s why it’s so hard for someone like me who relies so much on that routine and structure to want to branch out and try new games, especially when I’m worried and embarrassed that I don’t know what I’m talking about and am always putting out these super long essay-style posts.
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I definitely get preferring exploration in more structured or linear games compared to wide-open sandboxes. Much of what I like about Metroidvanias is that they both usually have a main progression path and ways to go off that path if and only if you're clever. To an extent, I also feel like a game being more open becomes significant on repeat playthroughs (any route is novel the first time). The massive open-world games really aren't designed for replayability, so I kind of just end up with my one and only playthrough being less tuned than a linear game of similar scope.

Honestly, I think the whole "you can go to any objective you want right now" thing has been done best with the Megaman formula: the game is short enough to be replayable with different routes and finely tuned throughout, challenging enough that you might want to back out and get a tool from elsewhere (also incidentally requiring that upgrades are impactful rather than starting with everything of note), and there's no stretches of hiking from A to B just for the sake of putting everything on a map.
 
Ironmage said:
I definitely get preferring exploration in more structured or linear games compared to wide-open sandboxes. Much of what I like about Metroidvanias is that they both usually have a main progression path and ways to go off that path if and only if you're clever. To an extent, I also feel like a game being more open becomes significant on repeat playthroughs (any route is novel the first time). The massive open-world games really aren't designed for replayability, so I kind of just end up with my one and only playthrough being less tuned than a linear game of similar scope.

Honestly, I think the whole "you can go to any objective you want right now" thing has been done best with the Megaman formula: the game is short enough to be replayable with different routes and finely tuned throughout, challenging enough that you might want to back out and get a tool from elsewhere (also incidentally requiring that upgrades are impactful rather than starting with everything of note), and there's no stretches of hiking from A to B just for the sake of putting everything on a map.
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So what you’re telling me (and would be in line with this thread) is that I’d probably enjoy the Mega Man games? writing this down in my notes

I believe most of the older ones have been remade at this point, and I’ve heard the “newer” ones are… okay, those seem to be more mixed, but not only would that explain the profile picture but say I did want to start playing one, what would you recommend?
 
bdt2002 said:
So what you’re telling me (and would be in line with this thread) is that I’d probably enjoy the Mega Man games? writing this down in my notes

I believe most of the older ones have been remade at this point, and I’ve heard the “newer” ones are… okay, those seem to be more mixed, but not only would that explain the profile picture but say I did want to start playing one, what would you recommend?
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Short answer, 4.
Long answer:
  • Classic series: 2d platformer with relatively simple starter moveset
    • 1-2: still ironing out the kinks in the formula
    • 3: initial release was rushed and it shows, the version as part of Wily Wars on the Genesis is a big improvement but there's still a massive difficulty spike if you're not used to 2's main bosses
    • 4-6: arguably the high point in terms of the basic formula, only notable complaint is that 5's special weapons are disappointing.
    • 7-8: brings in some more collectibles like X, structured as two sets of four rather than one set of eight. 7 is known for a brutal final boss, 8 for a pretty difficult gimmick level
    • 9-10: designed as nostalgia for 2, including the difficulty people remembered it for rather than the difficulty it actually had. Drops parts of Megaman's base moveset, but does feature alternate player characters with some of those attributes.
    • 11: It's great, new mechanic as either damage or slowdown on a cooldown fits in well, but it being a standalone modern release rather than part of a collection makes it harder to recommend for price reasons
  • X series: fancier versions of classic with powerups hidden around stages and a greater story emphasis
    • I'll admit I haven't done a huge amount with this, I played X1 on VC and it didn't quite live up to the hype. I've heard that X2 and X5 are the best and X6 and X7 the worst.
  • Zero series: generally considered to have the best story of the platformers, heavier on execution than exploration or finding powerups
    • Z1-Z2: new moves unlocked by leveling up weapons
    • Z3: new moves require high rank in levels
    • Z4: fewer main weapons, but new moves can be unlocked by playing a harder version of stages. Has a crafting system for other upgrades
  • ZX series: Attempts at a more open/Metroidvania map depending on who you ask
    • ZX: Ingame map layout is real confusing, uses fewer, more fleshed-out movesets, boss fights can be a bit awkward since you're punished for hitting weak points
    • ZX Advent: A large number of occasionally single-purpose movesets, otherwise a clear improvement on ZX
  • Legends series: 3rd-person shooters/dungeon crawlers. Currently lacking a modern release
    • I don't have any info on these
  • Battle Network Series: Just your average, everyday JRPG Deckbuilder Fighting game
    • 1-2: ironing out the new formula
    • 3: considered peak story, final version before parts of the combat system get overhauled
    • 4: Nearly no story, but also not much stuff between big fights if that's your thing
    • 5: Has several sections with tactics game vibes, because there wasn't enough genres here before (affectionate)
    • 6: Generally considered the easiest, but that also means that the earlygame isn't super slow like it can be with the others.
  • Star Force Series: Battle Network but the fights now have 3d graphics
    • I've only actually played 1. It was fine, but I had a better time with Battle Network. I've heard 2 is awful and 3 is great, but can't confirm that myself.
 
undertale was really good in 2015. deltarune is really good in 2025, albeit if u played undertale in 2015. Idk if undertale is good in 2025, though, and that hurts deltarune's chances. I still think undertale is good though (im a LISA enjoyer tho so gameplay is like, marginal to a solid plot)
 
only watched fmab in my mid 20s. its a respectable 7/10 but i think way better anime has came out since then that i do not understand its classic status. I guess it has a political message? but its a pretty weak and messy one tbh that fumbles over at the end due to the authors lack of guts to say anything radical. sick magic system though
 
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