I got a Wireless ModMic and attached it to my wireless HTC Vive to more easily record myself when playing virtual reality games. This is my second time ever playing Phasmophobia in VR!
Wireless ModMic Test #1 | Phasmophobia VR
Godzilla Twerking and Life-Changing Lap Dances | VRChat Full-Body Tracking
I hop back into VRChat for the first time in months and end up turning into Godzilla and becoming a twerk monster. I also hit up a horny nightclub and then join a Just Dance room to get some wholesome exercise in.
My Pokemon Card Collection | Vlog #24
I've spent the past several weeks organizing and cataloging my entire Pokémon card collection, totaling 1,243 cards that I've owned for over 20 years now. With prices at an all-time high, I've decided to sell them all off. In this video log, I go through everything that I own before listing them on eBay!
Exactly 20 years ago, I was in line to get my PlayStation 2
It was October 25, 2000 at exactly this time (11:30 PM Central as I write this). I was 12 years old, waiting in line at the Software Etc. at the Manhattan, Kansas mall (Manhattan Town Center) with my mom to get my PlayStation 2. It was a Wednesday, and I luckily had the next two days of school off, giving me a four-day weekend to play my new console. Before the employees knew this, they joked that I should put a penny under my tongue to fool a thermometer into thinking I had a fever so I could miss school that way. A couple of games were available to buy before the PS2 actually released, meaning I had days to constantly read the manuals for my copies of SSX and Smuggler's Run. I would pick up a copy of X-Squad on launch night, which I would return within a few days in exchange for Summoner (the right decision!).
I went on eBay recently and got the launch titles I originally had, along with a copy of Silent Scope, a launch title I never bothered with because the arcade game was far superior due to the physical sniper rifle you get to maneuver.
You can read more about mine and other people's experiences getting the PlayStation 2 at my ResetEra thread here.
The Last of Us vs. My Trip to Boston: Photo Comparison!
The Army Nurses Memorial by Bela Pratt at the Massachusetts State House, compared to a shot from The Last of Us Remastered in the same location. All pictures in this post were taken by me unless otherwise indicated.
I beat The Last of Us Remastered last night in preparation for tonight's launch of The Last of Us Part II. While playing the game I remembered that I had actually been to some of the locations featured in it, specifically Boston. I decided to go through my old pictures and videos I took there back in September 2012, nine months before The Last of Us originally launched in June 2013, and compare them to my playthrough. This post isn't meant to be all-encompassing, and focuses only on my own experience. There are other posts out there you can find if you search for real life comparisons for The Last of Us that cover other parts of the game.
Please note that from this point forward I will be discussing specific locations in The Last of Us, one of which involves a major story spoiler.
Locations in The Last of Us aren't 1:1 accurate, nor are they meant to be, but some areas more closely match real-life than others. The real-life pictures you see are from shots I took on my trip to Boston with my brother in September 2012. The events in Boston in the game take place in the summer of 2033, so nearly 21 years have passed since the Cordyceps Brain Infection (CBI) pandemic began.
We'll start off with probably my favorite comparison, and one of the more accurate depictions of a location in the game. One of the key early set pieces in The Last of Us is the Massachusetts State House, referred to in the game as the Capitol Building. Joel and Tess are given the task of bringing Ellie there to hand her off to the Fireflies, a rebel group who are going to take her to a hospital in Utah for study in hopes of developing a vaccine for CBI, since Ellie has been shown to be immune to the disease. They arrive there to find the Fireflies dead, leading to Tess revealing that she herself has become infected. The soldiers that have been chasing the group since they absconded from the quarantine zone arrive, and Tess stays back to give Joel and Ellie time to escape. Tess is quickly gunned down, and Joel and Ellie make their way through the State House in hopes of finding a safe exit.
Nurses’ Hall is the first room Joel and Ellie enter after separating from Tess. I said this is my favorite comparison before, and that's because the photo I took is a very similar angle to this shot I took from my playthrough of the game, as shown at the top of this post.
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. The Army Nurses Memorial by Bela Pratt at the Massachusetts State House, located in Nurses’ Hall.
The developers made some changes to the design of the stairs, though the layout is still the same. The key thing here though is the Army Nurses Memorial by Bela Pratt on the right. Notice how it has decayed over the years in The Last of Us.
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. The Army Nurses Memorial by Bela Pratt at the Massachusetts State House, located in Nurses’ Hall.
Up the stairs in the same room you can get a closer look at the murals on the wall, which have completely changed from real life, though some of the design of the wall itself is maintained along with the ceiling lights being similar.
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. Murals by Robert Reid at the Massachusetts State House in Nurses’ Hall.
Here is the entrance room where Tess dies. They kept some of the archways and the design on the floor is similar. I mostly only have video of this room in real life.
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. Interior of Massachusetts State House.
Now let's look at the outside area near the main entrance of the State House. On your way there you can see this large building to the left, which I believe to be a combination of the Old North Church, also known as Christ Church, and Park Street Church, with the clock matching the latter. Notice how the top portion of the building is closer to that of the Old North Church.
Across the street from the State House is the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial monument by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, portraying the Union Army officer alongside members of the all-black 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. I recommend watching the 1989 film Glory if you haven't seen it yet!
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. Robert Gould Shaw Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, across the street from the Massachusetts State House.
Past that is a dilapidated swan boat, which you can see a distant comparison of from a screencap I took of my video of Public Garden in Boston.
And finally, let’s check out the exterior of the Massachusetts State House via this handy slideshow. There are four pictures you can scroll through by using the arrows on the left and right.
The entrance post is very similar, though the font and spacing is different, and the fence at the very front is now gone. The spacing of the columns on the building is pretty similar as well, though it seems there may be more space in between them in the game. The top of the dome is also different and is missing its top piece. The statues out front were completely changed.
And that’s all the photos I have that are worth comparing. Have you been to any of the locations in The Last of Us? Feel free to share your stories and photos below!
Playing Ring Fit Adventure Without Legs and Getting Back Into the Nintendo 3DS
Today I played Ring Fit Adventure for the first time since I got it near its launch in October 2019 and had recorded a few videos of it for YouTube. I'm not able to play the game standing up yet due to the foot surgery, so I have to hold the left Joy-Con up as if it were on my leg to get the game to let me play. It turns out there are several ways you can play the game using only the Ring-Con, meaning I was able to sit down on the couch and exercise for the first time in a long time. They have a Quickplay option, which has several exercises/minigames that explicitly state Ring-Con only, which was super helpful. They have worldwide leaderboards and even show you when you are about to surpass a random player's score, which gives you enough motivation to get a few extra reps in; I found it to be very effective. Unfortunately my Apple Watch wasn't charged so I didn't time or measure myself, but I played a lot and expect to be pretty sore tomorrow. One of the workouts is meant for your pecs, and you push in and hold the Ring-Con for a moment and then release. As you progress in the stage, you have to push in the Ring-Con even further, which is more difficult. Since I can't really do leg workouts, I found that I could put the Ring-Con in between my legs and work my inner thighs that way. I would switch back and forth between my arms and legs until I just couldn't push in and hold the Ring-Con anymore. Of course, this made my score way higher than it otherwise would be, so I made sure the game didn't save the record or post it to the leaderboards. I do suspect some of the people near the top may be doing that to increase their position, though. I made sure to stretch afterward, and Heather took Day 1 progress pics of me. Ring Fit Adventure is a lot of fun, so I hope I will stick with it and see improvement in my physique over time. I hear once you actually start seeing results, you become a lot more motivated to consistently exercise. I’m going to get that Socrates philosophy body. [There is a reddit thread here discussing whether Socrates actually said that famous quote that gets thrown around.]
Getting swole #RingFitAdventure #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/x2jFDGIcEd
— Charles (@CharlesARatliff) May 27, 2020
Heather and I have been watching a ton of Disney stuff lately, mainly because I haven't seen most of their classics and want to before I jump into the Kingdom Hearts franchise. I started a Letterboxd account if you want to track the fancy version of what I’ve been watching, along with my ratings. We are going to rewatch Toy Story 1-3 to prepare for Toy Story 4, which neither of us has seen yet. I originally wanted to only watch Toy Story 3, but Heather convinced me we should watch all three films due to the character growth that occurs throughout them.
I also played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time today on my New Nintendo 3DS XL (Majora’s Mask edition!), the first time I've loaded it up for a few weeks now. Heather was reading on her Kindle next to me (the Kindle I gave her after she stepped on and broke the other one I gave her!). Instead of wasting time refreshing social media on my phone over and over, I am trying to use my 3DS more often instead. I also finally started Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies recently, which is a great quick start-and-stop game since you can save whenever you want. I love the Ace Attorney franchise and remembered I haven't played the two most recent games! The 3D effects in it and Ocarina of Time are great. I am still wowed by it and vastly prefer it to playing in 2D.
Some other stuff I feel like mentioning:
Made banana chips with old bananas
Released Part 12 of my Half-Life 2 playthrough
Played Apex Legends with Heather
Started my Udemy Photoshop course
Did all my Streaks!
Heather's garden compost bin came in. She seemed pretty excited about it, and it seems cool and sturdy!
We gave Lemons the Hamster some dried yellow squash. They seemed to really be into it. They had to climb a little to get to it and it was super cute.
I watched Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 10 Episode 9 while eating delicious Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. The key is to pour an excessive amount of salt into the water before it boils.
Worked on an Onward VR video for a little bit.
What a cutie.
I started playing ChilledCow's "lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to" while writing this post and immediately had flashes of Front Mission 3 in my head, making me want to play it. I don't know why. Perhaps the music sounded like something in the game, though I played it far too long ago to remember.
Front Mission 3 Character Art by Akihiro Yamada
Heather and I Beat Gears 5 (and other games)!
Heather and I beat Gears 5 a couple of weeks back. Barring the severe technical issues we faced for a third of the game, we really enjoyed it. All the Gears games are good, but I think Gears 5 has the best story and gameplay of them all. We're now on Act 2 on a harder difficulty. I also enjoy jumping in other people's games as Jack and helping out. Playing him is pretty fun and changes the experience a lot.
We beat Gears of War: Ultimate Edition afterward. I didn't realize so much content had been cut out of Act V in the original release. A lot of cutscenes and gameplay I never saw before in a game I originally played 13 years ago.
We're taking a break from the Gears universe and are now pretty deep into Ashen, which is super good and available on Xbox Game Pass. I've never thought of myself as someone that likes difficult games, but after beating Cuphead and playing through this and Celeste, I think I am!
I've never played any of the Souls games yet, but after finishing Ashen, I think I might start Bloodborne, or see if Heather would be into Code Vein.
The First Hour of Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son
I was provided a free Steam code for Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son yesterday, a virtual reality sequel to the 1993 film, Groundhog Day (which happens to be one of my most favorite movies). I spent an hour in VR as Phil Connors Jr., with the goal of showing the game's interactivity, style of humor, and the gameplay loop players can expect. Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son was released today, September 17, for PlayStation VR, Oculus, and Steam VR for $30. I am playing the game on a wireless HTC Vive with the original wand controllers. Part 2 of my playthrough coming soon!
Fresh Start Sampler
I’m writing this at a Cracker Barrel on my way back home, my go-to restaurant when on the road since there are better food options here than most other places off the interstate. I think I’m in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, or at least that’s the approximate location Google Maps is giving me. I often don’t know where I am specifically when driving long distances, which I like. I’ve even stayed in hotels without knowing what state I’m in. It’s fun!
I still have a little over four hours of driving ahead of me. I haven't been back home since the new year began, and I’m excited to get back into Red Dead Redemption 2; I got to the epilogue and had to quit playing for a couple of weeks. I also have a bunch of menial tasks to take care of (in life, not the game) that shouldn't take much time. I'll be able to have the virtual reality space free of obstacles again by this weekend, an area that hasn't been usable for months due to all the clutter. I finally got space clear upstairs to move the rest of our belongings up there, so I can give my HTC Vive the large, empty room that it needs to get the most out of it. It sounds like the EVGA Z390 Dark motherboard will be releasing soon, so I'll hopefully be able to put together that new PC soon so I can go wireless.
I'm done eating and should get back to driving now.
Hyper Doggy GIF
That's Lucy, just one of the 50+ animals I get to hang out with whenever I'm at my father-in-law’s house. I have hundreds of pictures of alpaca, llamas, piggies, doggies, kitties, chickens, horses, mini donkeys, and more from his farm. I plan on sorting and uploading them to SmugMug sometime, ideally later this year. I printed a high-quality photo book of some of my best pictures from 2016 to give as a gift to the family a couple of years ago. I'm going to do that again with my pictures from 2018, which are much better due to the iPhone’s Portrait Mode. I like visiting here when it's cold since most of the animals get a lot fluffier this time of year, which makes everything extra cute (and more fun to pet).
I started and beat Florence on my iPhone X today. It’s a beautiful game. I bought the soundtrack right afterward. I'll talk more about it in the future since it's time for bed. I've decided to stay through the weekend before heading back home.