If you want to bypass grinding entirely then you’d need something like that, but it might trivialize certain parts of the game. Won’t trivialize all of it though since several of the key fights rely on strategy.

That was someone’s insane interpretation of the ending of the first Mother game (a.k.a. Earthbound Beginnings). It’s not as out there as the guy who filled the Silent Hill wiki with claims that it was all symbolism for circumcision trauma (yes, really), but it’s still kinda nutters.

Yeah, you do have to grind a bit. Nowhere near as much as some games (looking at you, basically every Final Fantasy game) but the leveling is designed around you doing some extra fights for XP. Every new area generally has a “grind spot” that is moderately to incredibly obvious, typically some grouping of enemies that are enough to fight but not enough to overwhelm you, placed within reasonable walking distance of a bed, hotel, or other way to refill your HP/MP for cheap/free.

For the first town, before you take on the punks roaming the streets you should get some levels fighting crows, dogs, and snakes up near your house. Once you can kill them in two turns or less head into town and try taking on a single punk. If you survive that fight without being nearly dead, keep fighting punks. If you almost die, go heal up and farm a little more. And if you DO die… well you only lose half the money you have on you, so as long as you keep most of it in the ATM you haven’t lost much of anything.

EarthBound was the first JRPG I ever completed and the first JRPG I ever enjoyed. Before it I’d never been able to get into JRPGs: there was just too much complexity while also having too little going on. Wandering an overworld only to be randomly pulled out of it for no apparent reason was maddening. As a kid, trying to piece together the backstory of some undefined thoroughly detailed fantasy world while also taking in the emerging plot in the opening sequence wasn’t anywhere near as appealing as firing up Mario or Mega Man and getting straight to the action.

EarthBound neatly sidestepped all of the things that had stopped me from liking JRPGs. The equipment system was simple without being braindead. The setting was a pastiche of suburban life that I could easily understand. The stakes were high but the tone was still whimsical and amusing. And above all I knew why I was suddenly getting dragged into battle with a snake or a crow or a dog instead of just being clotheslined by combat.

EarthBound still is my go-to recommendation in the (increasingly unlikely) event that someone says “I’ve always wanted to get into JRPGs, what should I start with?” It is the perfect “intro to JRPG” game without feeling trivial or like it cannot stand on its own. It singlehandedly made me love the JRPG genre, and I probably would not have played literally every other JRPG I’ve ever played if it wasn’t for EarthBound.

Let 'em frown. You have Cinnamon Toast Vodka now.

Local safety regulations require a breathalyzer test before you’re allowed upstairs.

Naw he’s off at RenFaire.

Seconding NewPipe. It’s the easiest to get set up, and once you get it set up you basically never have to touch it again.

YouTube Revanced is more user friendly and has more features once it’s set up, but the install process is more involved and updating it essentially requires you to redo the install process again. It’s nothing crazy, but NewPipe is the “set it and forget it” option IMO.

Try to see if there are any that do that little Javascript-evaluation-to-render-the-client-side-site thing, and if there are, have them mine cryptocurrency for you.

Using your evil powers for good I see.

You say, I feel that, and yet every time another poll about the economy comes out its like I live in a different universe entirely.

The upcoming Fallout series on Amazon Prime. This is a screencap taken from one of the most recent trailers.

The other guy is worse, so we really don’t have to listen to a damn thing you say at all and you have to vote for our guy, get that through your poverty addled brains.

I mean I hate to say it but this is unironically true. As bad as things are now The Other Guy absolutely would make things worse. Neoliberals may be a scourge but MAGA is cancer. One of the bad cancers. Not even prostate cancer, like pancreatic cancer.

My high school had a “no hats indoors” rule and even that was regarded as dumb. No hats at all? Screw you if you wanna keep the sun out of your eyes I guess?

No hats. Toques are allowed, everything else is banned.

It’s always rough when a gang of Chefs take over a school.

Supposedly there was a similar policy at my elementary school early on, which led to a kid being forced to eat something they were allergic to. As the story goes, they vomited violently all over the lunch monitor and then had to be taken to the nurse’s office. Their parents were not amused. The policy did not stay in place.

Also, don’t put all your eggs in one basket: diversify, diversify, diversify. Make a main account, but have more on at least one other instance. Instances go down for maintenance, software gets updated, owners change moderation policies, so on. If you can’t get to Lemmy through your main, use your secondary.

Personally I use lemmy.sdf.org as my secondary. It’s run by a bunch of retro-enthusiast Unix nerds who more care about the functionality of the tech than anything else. No blocked communities there, and AFAIK they haven’t defederated from any instance outside of ones that were hacked/compromised. That does not mean you can just go there and be a shitbird though, they do have standards.

Good as that is, I gotta endorse the Utah Philips version. It comes with context and a story, and also he’s hilarious.

Thanks, though I am honor-bound to point out that Sandbox6 has been maintaining YUP for the last several years now. Doing a great job, too.

AFAIK they’re not on Lemmy or I’d tell you to thank them more directly. Still!

I didn’t check literally every one, but I did a few spot checks and none of them had problems.

That’s me. Nevadan to the bone, even if it’s the opposite end of the state.